SAM'S SENSE: Floods - Too much water is going to waste

It’s been a week of torrents turning into devastating flooding situations across 24 counties after the death and destruction brought about by nature.

The images of distraught mothers, fathers wading in the waters striving to salvage the little they could and the innocent faces of children going on with their play, as if oblivious of what has befallen what they previously called home.

It is the images of dedicated young men who spared nothing, to get to the depths of the waters to rescue stranded mothers and children, stripping themselves of their dignity, just so that another human being may live, away from danger. These must be the heroes of the week.

Now, as we grapple to understand just what is happening in the current phenomenon, the Kenya Meteorological Department warned the country to expect more than normal rainfall. Principal Secretary Harsama Kello says the government is prepared to deal with the situation; that even if it worsens, the government is prepared.

Based on historical patterns, however, it is possible to predict the series of events. There is a high likelihood that after the current floods, drought will follow and it will make the current events seem so distant in our minds almost like Noah’s Ark. 

Not long from today you will see people pushing carts with jerry cans of water and others with gallons of water on donkey backs. Very soon we shall switch back to natural settings: That water is something that comes and goes. It’s as if it is scripted in our economic planning.

On a normal day, nobody remembers the ambitious projects to harvest rainwater. Projects are now swallowed by corruption. Sometime back, former President, the late Mwai Kibaki, touted as the most successful in managing the country’s economy, rolled out plans to put up dams at strategic locations.

Badasa dam was supposed to serve the Northern county of Marsabit, which is mostly dry and arid. Umaa dam was to change lives in the Eastern county of Kitui.

It’s been more than thirteen years of waiting. The cost keeps changing from below one billion shillings to a probable more than Ksh.2 billion.

Recently, the Cabinet announced that the small matter of disagreement between the government of Kenya and CMC de Ravenna, the Italian firm that was to build the Itare, Kimwarer and Arror dams had been settled. That now, Itare dam will be completed and the Arror dam will be built. There was no mention of Kimwarer dam. But it is important to note that it had been cancelled by President Uhuru Kenyatta in September 2019, for failing the technical and financial feasibility test.

The irony is that, despite the ambitious dam plans, results appear to have gone with the floods. There is a litany of suspects who were supposed to deliver the dams. They now sit pretty to watch the floods on their television sets from the comfort of their exquisite couches.

Every time there is a phenomenon such as this, governments - both national and county, come out to state the plans they have to dig water pans and dams to contain the important resource. Plans to open up clogged drainage systems. It’s disaster time that requires all hands on deck.

Floods affecting this country, however, literally stand for a wasted opportunity. Wasted opportunity to boost rain-fed agriculture. Maybe we need to rewrite that to raindrops-fed agricultural because our strategy seems to start and end with that fall of raindrops from the clouds to the shamba.

We haven’t seen the wisdom of collecting the water. We have let it run in different directions. For those in the Western part of the country, your raindrops drain away to Lake Victoria. For the Eastern half of the country, the Athi River, Tana River and the many dry riverbeds that flow to the Eastern lowlands drain their contents into a place that doesn’t need an extra drop of water and that is the Indian Ocean.

Yet, here we stand, in a moment of adversity. In the wake of lives and property at stake, we must do at least one right thing. Save the lives, use the information available to plan, allocate resources and for once deliver on the plans, else, the dreams of the past will make no sense.

That is my Sense tonight!