When Kenya gained independence from Britain in 1964, Turkana County (then Turkana District) inherited the structural marginalization created by decades of Colonial Contact neglect and the closed district policy. Despite independence, successive Kenyan governments continued to treat Turkana as a peripheral region with low development priority, resulting in persistent poverty, minimal infrastructure, and cycles of Drought and Famine and famine.
Post-Independence Marginalization
Kenya's early independence governments, dominated by political leaders from the Kikuyu, Luo, and other central and western communities, allocated development resources to regions with greater political influence and economic productivity. Turkana, remote and with limited political representation in early independence cabinets, received minimal central Turkana County Government investment. Roads remained poor and undeveloped. Schools and hospitals built in the independence period were few and far between. Commercial activity remained limited. The legacy of colonial underdevelopment was not remedied but perpetuated.
Droughts and Famines
Turkana has experienced several catastrophic droughts and famines since independence, each a humanitarian crisis that exposed the region's vulnerability and marginalization. Major droughts occurred in 1984, 1992, 2011, and 2022, each causing deaths, livestock losses, and widespread suffering.
The 1984 famine was particularly severe, affecting the entire East African region but impacting Turkana with exceptional severity. Thousands of Turkana pastoralists died. Livestock herds were decimated. The famine exposed the depths of poverty and vulnerability in Turkana and generated international media attention and humanitarian response.
Subsequent droughts in 1992, 2011, and 2022 reinforced perceptions of Turkana as perpetually crisis-prone. Each drought triggered humanitarian responses (food aid, water distribution) that, while necessary, also fostered aid dependency and undercut local initiatives for drought-resilient development.
The Aid Economy
Beginning particularly after the 1984 famine, Turkana became heavily dependent on humanitarian assistance and development aid. International NGOs (World Food Programme, UNICEF, International Organization for Turkana Origins and Migration, Doctors Without Borders, and many others) established substantial presences in Turkana, delivering emergency relief, development services, and social programs. While humanitarian aid was necessary and saved lives, it also created structural dependencies and sometimes undercut local governance capacity and economic initiative.
Government Neglect and Underdevelopment
Throughout the post-independence period, central government investment in Turkana remained minimal. The Kenya Roads Board invested less in Turkana road infrastructure than in other Turkana Pastoralism regions. The government allocated fewer teachers and Health in Turkana workers to Turkana than to other areas. Government water development projects were limited. Turkana remained among Kenya's least developed counties by standard development indicators (literacy, life expectancy, infant mortality, poverty rates).
Devolution and County Government (2013 Onwards)
The 2010 Kenya Constitution established a devolved system of county governments, with each county (including Turkana) gaining autonomy over local development planning, some revenue sources, and service delivery. Devolution was intended to bring government closer to communities and allow counties to prioritize development based on local needs. However, Turkana County government has faced significant challenges: limited revenue, capacity constraints, corruption allegations, and continued dependence on central government transfers and donor support.
Political Representation
Turkana has had political representation at the national level, including Members of Parliament and (since 2013) a county governor. However, Turkana's political influence at the national level has historically been limited due to the region's small contribution to Kenya's national economy and its peripheral location. The 2012 Oil Discovery in Turkana discovery has somewhat increased Turkana's political importance, bringing more national attention but also conflicts over oil revenues and resource management.
Conflict and Insecurity
Post-independence Turkana has experienced persistent conflicts with neighboring pastoral communities (particularly the Pokot and Samburu) over water and grazing rights, conflicts intensified by the proliferation of modern weapons (AK-47s, G3 rifles) obtained through regional arms flows. Government disarmament programs have had mixed success. These conflicts have disrupted pastoral production, created insecurity, and hindered development initiatives.
The 2012 Oil Discovery as Turning Point
The 2012 discovery of commercially viable oil reserves by Tullow Oil marked a potential turning point for Turkana. For the first time, Turkana appeared positioned to capture significant resource revenues and attract substantial development investment. However, benefits have been slower and more limited than initially hoped, generating both expectations and frustrations as of 2026.
See Also
- Turkana County Government
- The Closed District Policy
- Oil Discovery in Turkana
- Turkana Expansion
- Turkana Timeline
Sources
-
Nyambura, C., & Ojala, M. (2015). Famine in Kenya: Revisiting the Turkana Pastoral Crisis of 1984. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 9(1), 65-87. https://www.tandfonline.com/
-
Kiwanuka, A., & Kitara, D. L. (2020). Persistent Poverty in Pastoral Kenya: Causes and Policy Responses. African Development Review, 31(2), 156-175. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/
-
Government of Kenya (2020). State of the Nation Report on Implementation of Devolution. Ministry of Interior and Coordination of Government. https://www.interior.go.ke/
-
World Bank (2018). Kenya Systematic Country Diagnostic. World Bank Group. https://www.worldbank.org/