Kakuma residents and those in other wards within Turkana West Sub County will benefit from a Sh3.2 billion socioeconomic investment project from World Bank.
The host community has been exposed to major challenges such as water scarcity that has seen refugees, according to residents and Turkana West MP Daniel Epuyo, being prioritised in case of aid to drill boreholes or emergency water trucking.
Mr Epuyo said that the host community is mainly relying on unsafe and unhygienic water sources such as hand dug scoop wells at seasonal river.
"Lack of safe and affordable clean water has frequently exposed residents to diseases such as typhoid and cholera. Our environment has also been degraded as refugees need trees for constructing shelter and wood fuel for cooking," the lawmaker said.
Besides Turkana, Garissa County has been allocated Sh4 billion for hosting refugees at Dadaab Refugee Camp while Wajir will receive Sh2 billion from the five-year World Bank funded project dubbed Kenya Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project.
Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa who launched the project at Cradle Tented Camp in Lodwar town said that although the country has an obligation to support refugees from war-torn countries, the host communities need to be supported as a result of environmental and economic burden.
He said the World Bank is investing Sh10 billion in the project. Danish International Development Agency is complementing the project with Sh800 million.
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