The County Department of Water Services has established two Sub-county water sector coordination teams in Turkana Central and Loima.
This is in line with the provisions of the County Water Act, 2019.
The forum whose terms of reference include providing a governance structure to check against unnecessary duplication of efforts and ensuring that water is sustainably utilized as expected
The Chief Officer for Water Services David Maraka, acknowledged the critical role USAID funded STAWI project is involved in facilitating the process.
He confirmed the Turkana South and East fora were already operational.
“This exercise is expected to continue until the establishment of such governance entities for all the sub-counties in Turkana. Thereafter, focus will shift towards creating the County-wide Water Sector Coordination Forum, to oversee activities and interventions in the sector.” David Maraka explained.
On his part, Director for Water Services Paul Lotum said, the entity formed had taken care of the need for inclusivity.
He mentioned sector partners, National Government water sector agencies, and sister Developments within the County such as Agriculture and Health as key stakeholders in the forum.
Deputy Director for Water Projects Planning and Design, Fredrick Rukoo emphasized the necessity of adopting an information-sharing model to facilitate data-informed decision making.
Eng Rukoo challenged the newly formed teams to consider instituting integrated water supply projects that take care of the various needs.
During the meeting, MD for LOWASCO Esther Lokitoe stressed the need to prioritize the protection of borehole 9, which is facing imminent threat of collapse from increased water levels in River Turkwell.
Representative of USAID STAWI Frida Ewoton described the involvement of the organization as a strategy for strengthening sector governance in a bid to improve service delivery.
The new teams come at a time when a similar model has been used to establish coordination for in other critical sectors such as Disaster Management and health emergencies.
The meeting was also attended and addressed by National Government Administrative Officers (NGAO) from Loima and Turkana Central: Stephen Gitau (ACC Loima) and Michael Keguta (ACC Kerio Delta).
Egusi Arigan (Deputy Director of Water Services), Vinson Ekai (Turkana Central Sub-county water officer), and Zachary Wasike (Deputy Sub-county Water officer for Loima) were also present.
Water sector state actors represented during the meeting included the Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA), the Water Resource Management Authority (WRA), and, National Drought Management Authority (NDMA).
Also present were representatives from Cornelly Magala (IRC), Rose Kendagor (UNICEF), Anthony Nderitu(Save the Children), Ekale Lopungurei (Practical Action), USAID LMS Engineer James Nachule( USAID LMS), Kenyaman Eriong’a (APIR) and Joseph Kamais (Griot consulting).
