Kakuma residents and other wards in Turkana West Sub County are set to benefit from a Sh3.2 billion socioeconomic investment project funded by the World Bank.
The five-year Kenya Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project is meant to ease pressure on host communities that have carried the burden of refugee settlements, especially where water, fuel and other basic services are already under strain.
Turkana West MP Daniel Epuyo said residents have long depended on unsafe water sources, including hand-dug scoop wells along seasonal rivers. He said the shortage of clean and affordable water has exposed people to typhoid and cholera, while the demand for trees for shelter and cooking fuel has worsened environmental damage.
Epuyo also said refugees have sometimes been given priority when aid is delivered for borehole drilling or emergency water trucking, leaving host communities under pressure.
Under the same programme, Garissa County is to receive Sh4 billion for hosting refugees at Dadaab Refugee Camp, while Wajir has been allocated Sh2 billion.
Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa launched the project at Cradle Tented Camp in Lodwar town. He said Kenya has an obligation to support refugees fleeing war, but host communities must also be assisted because they bear environmental and economic costs.
Wamalwa said the World Bank is contributing Sh10 billion to the project, with the Danish International Development Agency adding Sh800 million.
The project was launched in 2018.
