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At 77,000 sqkm, Turkana County is the second largest county, covering more than 13% of Kenya’s surface. Turkana shares its borders with four counties; Marsabit to the east, Samburu to the south-east, Baringo and West Pokot to the south-west.The county also borders with South Sudan to the north, Uganda to the west and Ethiopia to the north-east. The name Turkana is widely believed to be a corruption of Turkwen which means ‘cave people’ in Kiturkana, the language of the Turkana people.
It is warm and hot with unreliable rainfall pattern ranging between 300mm and 400mm per annum. Majority of the residents of Turkana County depend on nomadic pastoralism and fishing as a major source of their livelihoods.
Fishing is practised in the waters of Lake Turkana with Tilapia and Nile perch being among some of the fish species caught in the Lake. Goats, camels, donkeys and zebu cattle the most common livestock kept by the communities in the region. Kerio River and Turkwell dam supply the region with water for cultivation and for livestock. Lodwar, the capital of Turkana County, is the biggest town in northwestern Kenya. The town is a commercial centre whose principal activities are fish trade and basket weaving.
Lodwar is the town where Kenya’s first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, and other political prisoners were detained for two years during the colonial period. Turkana, the County of the many resources, offers a huge potential for Investments in uncounted promising fields, be it in transport,agriculture, the fishing industry, geothermal and wind power production, water bottling or housing and real estate business.
The tourism sector is up for growth and ready for investments in the hospitality and catering industry to build much needed hotels,restaurants and conference facilities. The county’s tourist attractions includes Lake Turkana, Sibiloi National Park and two islands on Lake Turkana that migratory birds use as a stopping ground. The parks are also habitats of Nile crocodiles, hippopotamus and snakes.
Thanks to its overwhelming vastness and diversity, an unspoilt nature and outstanding locations, Turkana County is a heaven for the filming industry as proven by past productions, the most successful of which was ‘The Constant Gardener’ that has reaped international fame.
Mining Turkana County is Kenya sundisputed mining exploration frontier. With the 2012 confirmed discovery of oil which is now estimated at 600 million barrels, the county now basks in the glory of being a most attractive destination to investors looking for precious and industrial minerals. The county is home to reasonable deposits ofa wide range of minerals and it is now ripe for detailed exploration work. There is fairly good representation of mineral exploration companies with an extremely good representation of Kenyan owned companies. A natural resource mapping exercise conducted by Turkana County government between April and June 2015 was able to establish occurrences of various...
I salute the sovereign people of Turkana County for entrusting me with the mandate of forming the first Turkana County Government in the new Constitutional dispensation. Indeed that trust, has been a burden ever since I embarked on this journey and what forms the fulcrum of my priority everyday on this job is how to strive more not to betray it. For me therefore, it continues to be a privilege to serve the great people of Turkana. I take this opportunity to congratulate them all for standing to be counted in the race for development.
Turkana, today, is an investment haven, a tourist destination of choice, the toast of development partners and a reference point in good and responsive governance because we have confronted headlong the critical questions of development and stagnation.
Even though we cannot claim to have reached the promised land, we certainly have left the stage of arrested development, cluelessness and despondency. As Turkana County Government, our focus is clear, our direction is unambiguous. It is a determined move to development, stability, better lives and growth.
“As a County, we may not have had much to celebrate when Kenya clocked 50 years since independence, but that is history now, we cannot afford to continue living in the past. Let us look at the brighter side of the 50 years. Through the Constitution, devolution was born. Turkana County Government, is a dream-come true. So let us count our blessings and focus on sustainable development by pulling together.”