Lodwar, 25th June 2025 (Public Communication and Media Relations) – County Government has expressed readiness to adopt a Slums Upgrading and Prevention Strategy (SUPs) for Turkana.
This was expressed by Lands, Physical Planning and Urban Areas Management CECM Faith Aletea at a forum in Lodwar where the strategy document was unpacked and officially handed over to the County.
The strategy is part of the second phase of the Kenya Informal Settlement Improvement Program (KISIP II), a national initiative by the State Department of Housing and Urban Development to curb the spread of informal settlements in 33 counties across Kenya.
“Turkana’s strategy was developed by Geodev International, a consultancy contracted to deliver county specific strategies for five counties under the KISIP cluster four-Turkana, Baringo, Uasin Gishu, Trans Nzoia and Nakuru. We are ready to adopt it as it provides a structured response to the challenge of slums which have become a feature of Turkana’s rapid urbanization,” Lands, Physical Planning and Urban Areas Management CECM Faith Aletea explained.
According to a baseline data collected during the strategy’s development revealed that Turkana has 55 informal settlements unevenly distributed with 30.9% of the settlements in Turkana North, 23.6% in Loima, 18.2% in Turkana Central, 9% in Turkana West, 7.2% in both Kibish and Turkana South and 3.6% in Turkana East.
“The strategy has shed light on insecure land tenure, inadequate enforcement of urban planning laws, lack of essential infrastructure and services, high poverty levels and vulnerability to disasters as the key drivers of informal settlements,” CEC Aletea explained.
The strategy has also recommend a mix of immediate and long-term measures to curb the situation.
Nationally, a slum is defined as a settlement with poor access to water and sanitation, insecure land tenure, substandard housing, overcrowding and high vulnerability to disasters.
In Turkana, slums occur in four categories; the dilapidated municipal and institutional housing, settlements on public land pending adjudication, those on irregularly subdivided community land and those located on Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA).
The meeting to unpack the strategy and hand it over for adoption by the county brought together sector stakeholders drawn from office of the County Attorney, directorate of Public Health, Water and Sanitation among others.
