El Niño-induced rain starts in Ijara Constituency

El Niño-induced rain has pounded the Ijara constituency of Garissa County for the last three days, wreaking havoc after 30 goats perished in the Gababa location in the Abdi Gure area.

The rains started over the weekend and continued until Wednesday when it subsided leaving a trail of destruction with storm water flowing from upstream on the Dubandubesa side, blocking the road to Masalani town due to poor drainage.

The fast-growing Masalani town has no functional sewerage system, and residents rely on pit latrines dug 30-40 ft underground.

The road to Ijara town, Sangailu, and Hulugho towns along the Kenya-Somalia border has been rendered impassable.

Bothai Sub-county has no paved roads, resulting in vehicles getting stuck at the Kulan checkpoint towards Bothai sub-county headquarters along the road to Lamu county via the Boni forest.

The road between Masalani Bridge and Boji along the River Tana is not affected yet, but as the grand waterfall dams release their water, it is projected that the River Tana will overflow and meander, clearing everything along its courseway; therefore, residents will be forced to move to higher ground.

Residents often use boats whenever the river meanders on the river tana side during flood seasons.

With the onset of the rains, it is feared the road from the interior of the constituency to Ijara sub-county headquarters at Masalani will be rendered impassable, and only four-wheel drive vehicles can be used.

Works on the Lapset Road project from Lamu Port have also been affected as well after the Chinese contractor suspended work following the heavy rains.

The 450 km road from the port of Lamu through the Boni forest to Ijara town, Fafi near Nanighi, up to Garissa near the Modika military bases, and towards Madogashe enroute to Isiolo ongoing works has been suspended as the camps are closely guarded by Kenya Defence Forces personnel.

Ijara residents led by Ijara youth leader Mr. Yakub Yarrow, former Chairman Ijara County Council Mr. Mohamed Gure, and Masalani watchdog chairman Mr. Abdullahi Abdi queried how the Ijara road levy fund has been utilised over the last two years.

They commended engineers contracted to build the Masalani-Gamba-Isoe road near Garsen sub-county at the Tana River Sub-county junction of the Lamu 98 km road network, which is currently going on course for bitumen.

However, the residents, through their leaders, criticized the Garissa County government for failing to play its role by not funding tarmacking of access roads within Masalani Municipality, which they pledged to allocate annually for Sh400m, as residents suffer, and no reaction is forthcoming from County officials on the road and repair of the road.

They appealed to Deputy President Kithure Kindiki to ensure the Masalani bridge to Boji Road is tarmarcked the final 8 km stretch, which is connecting Ijara to Mombasa, Garissa, and Nairobi as the best outlet and inlets for goods and merchandise from Mombasa, Nairobi, and Garissa.

By Mohamed Dahir