Hunger Returns to Napeitom, a Turkana Village Already Marked by Death and Displacement

SUGUTA SUBCOUNTY, TURKANA COUNTY – Nearly a year after residents of Napeitom were moved into newly built resettlement housing, the community is once again in crisis — this time from hunger rather than bullets.

Reports and images circulating on social media in June 2026 show residents of Napeitom, in Kapedo/Napeitom Ward, weakened by lack of food. Among the accounts drawing public alarm is that of an elderly woman reported to have collapsed from hunger, an account that county and humanitarian officials have yet to formally verify.

The hunger crisis is the latest chapter in a long and difficult history for a village that has repeatedly made national headlines since residents returned to settle the area following the election of Josphat Koli Nanok as Member of Parliament for the larger Turkana South constituency in 2007 – 2012.

A History of Violence

Napeitom has endured near-annual banditry attacks attributed to armed raiders from the neighbouring Tiaty area of Baringo County, on the far side of the Turkana–Pokot border. The most devastating of these came on the night of Sunday, 1 August 2022, when eight people were burnt to death and a minor was abducted in an attack that area chief Kaptan Ekiru confirmed to authorities. Rukia Abubakar of the Kenya Red Cross Society coordinated emergency response efforts in the aftermath.

Nearly three years later, on 2 June 2025, Turkana Governor Jeremiah Lomorukai launched a permanent resettlement housing programme intended to give Napeitom families secure shelter within a fenced perimeter. Within weeks of families moving in, however, three young men travelling by motorcycle taxi (bodaboda) were ambushed by suspected Pokot bandits; two were killed and one survived with serious injuries. Residents say the settlement's protective perimeter has since collapsed, leaving them feeling as isolated and exposed as before.

Hunger Compounds an Existing Crisis

By June 2026 – roughly a year after resettlement – food insecurity has emerged as the community's most urgent threat. In response, the Suguta Professionals Association (SPA), a community-based organisation of professionals from the region, pooled personal contributions to provide emergency relief after images of the crisis spread online.

SPA's intervention prompted a coordinated county-level response. County Executive Committee (CEC) Member for Roads, Transport and Infrastructure Benson Lokwang Logiel, together with area MCA Willy Nalimo, Chief Officer for Economic Planning Samwel Ekaale, Subcounty Administrator Dr Benjamin Lomeyan, and SPA Secretary-General Loreng Gerald, lobbied the county's CEC for Public Service and Disaster Management, securing 200 bags of assorted foodstuffs for distribution. The Kenya Red Cross Society, through Rukia Abubakar, also joined the relief effort.

The county's Directorate of Disaster Management has since donated a further 200 bags of maize, while the Directorate of Early Childhood Development contributed 100 bags of porridge flour targeted at young children. The Suguta Professionals Association, in partnership with the area MCA's office, is covering fuel costs and allowances for the lorries and the Subcounty Administrator's vehicle to transport aid to Napeitom and the surrounding villages of Ngilukia, Kamuge, and Kakiteitei.

Lawyer Lonyaman Ang'elei, an aspirant for the Turkana East parliamentary seat, delivered food aid to Napeitom residents in the past week, according to community sources. The Kenya Defence Forces have also periodically supported affected children in the area, donating food and preparing cooked meals on-site.

Questions Over the Suguta Valley's Unexplained Traffic

Even as residents struggle to secure basic food supplies, community members and local leaders have raised concerns over a separate and, to them, troubling development: an increase in unmarked vehicles and helicopters entering the Suguta Valley, reportedly linked to tourism operators and to environmental actors associated with Conserve Global.

It remains unclear what activities these visits involve or whether any associated revenue is being channelled back to the county or to host communities. Given the scale of need in Napeitom and neighbouring villages, residents and local leaders argue that Turkana County's Department of Tourism, together with revenue-collection authorities, owe the public a clear account of what activity is taking place in the Suguta Valley, under what authorisation, and whether the county and affected communities are receiving their due share of any proceeds. This publication has not independently verified the nature, ownership, or purpose of the flights and vehicle movements described, and is seeking comment from the relevant county departments.

A Subcounty Left Behind

Residents and local leaders describe Suguta Subcounty as suffering from compounding, long-standing neglect that has left the population acutely vulnerable to shocks like the current hunger crisis:

• No tarmac or reliable road network. Existing roads become impassable during rains and are considered unsafe due to recurrent banditry along routes bordering Tiaty.
• Inadequate healthcare. Facilities are served largely by Community Health Assistants, with few or no qualified healthcare providers.
• Limited education access. The subcounty has only one secondary school, and school attendance is reportedly depressed by hunger and insecurity.
• Undeveloped agricultural potential. Residents say the land is fertile but remains unfarmed.
• Poor water access. Available water is largely saline, and few boreholes remain functional.
• No electricity connection, despite the subcounty's proximity – a few kilometres – to the Chemolingot substation.
• Absence of youth facilities anywhere in the subcounty.
• Limited political engagement, with residents describing a lack of consistent advocacy from the area's Member of Parliament and the Turkana County Woman Representative.

For a community that has now endured a documented cycle of massacre, displacement, resettlement, renewed attack, and hunger within a span of roughly four years, residents say the immediate relief efforts – while welcome – do not address the structural neglect they argue lies at the root of Napeitom's repeated crises.