Flooded River Malmalte cuts supply of food to Turkana

Transportation of essential goods including food from Uasin Gishu and Trans Nzoia counties to Turkana has been hit hard after River Malmalte burst its banks on Wednesday.

More than 40 trucks loaded with goods headed to Lodwar from Kitale were parked at Lous Trading Centre in West Pokot County and others on the banks of River Malmalte.

The river, which runs along the Turkana-West Pokot boundary, swept away three trucks.

Owners of the trucks have been waiting for days for the water level to subside in order to remove them but heavy rains continue to pound the region.

The first truck was swept away on April 9.

A resident, Patrick Lokaapa, said that a trailer and a truck have been stuck in the river since April 11 when Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa visited the area to assess the floods situation.

“Transport services have been paralysed,” Mr Lokaapa said.

Mr Wamalwa urged his Transport counterpart James Macharia to move with speed and build Kainuk bridge to allow movement of goods and people.

Deputy President William Ruto assured Turkana residents that the government had allocated Sh1.5 billion to building the bridge and that the contractor was already on site.