The government of Kenya is denying that residents of Turkana are dying of hunger-related complications to avoid ‘embarrassments of failed leadership’.
Three fresh graves of people who have died in the ongoing drought in Baringo County contradict the government’s insistence that there is no food crisis in the country.
A spot check by a local media on a tour of the hunger-ravaged villages in the region in the past two days found the graves in Tiaty constituency alone, with more residents showing signs of starvation.
Frail faces of children, the elderly and expectant mothers — the worst hit after men went further afield in search of pasture and water for their livestock — are a picture of a humanitarian crisis.
At Cherelyo village in Loyamorok ward a fresh grave of 58-year-old Joseph Kiptoo, whose family says he succumbed to a hunger-related illness on Sunday, stared at us, a mound of stones and dry shrubs some 50 metres from the compound.
His home, a dilapidated structure, whose rafters were almost falling, revealed the levels of poverty in the area.
Some family members — not all of them will fit in the structure — often spend their nights under a lone tree in the compound, braving snake bites, another hazard in the desolate region.
It is here, three kilometers from the trading centre, that we found another fresh grave of Ms Cheparenger Lochokee, whose relatives say died of hunger three weeks ago.
Her widower and six children were sitting under a tree in the scorching afternoon sun.
Though they were supposed to be taking the afternoon meal, the children had dried lips, an indication that they had not taken anything.
Mr Solomon Lochokee said his wife died after going without food for two days.
“I have no livestock after they were all driven away by armed criminals two years ago. I usually depend on selling charcoal to fend for my family, but there was a time I did not manage to sell for two weeks. We had to sleep on empty stomachs for two days and my wife could not manage to walk. She died three weeks later,” he recounted.
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He said they informed the area chief of the circumstances surrounding her death.
“We are wondering why the government is disputing that people succumbed to hunger, yet the administrators are aware of the situation on the ground. As we speak, more people may die because they are in dire need of food aid,” he added.
Five hundred metres from the homestead, we saw the grave of Paul Kiplal, 65, another victim of hunger, who died early in the month after “starving for several days”.
The local media team came face to face with young children in the homestead who were malnourished.
A year-old girl was too frail to even stretch her hand or cry; her thin legs could neither allow her to stand nor crawl.