PhD thesis Title Page Final _Richard Juma - Victoria University ...

The project failed due to lack of sustainability. The local people were not
involved in the initiation and implementation of the project. The planners
thought that they could modernize the economy from above simply by
introducing modern production technology and encouraging economic
differentiation (Omosa 2003). The project definition of pastoral
development was that of settlements based service delivery, implying that
the pastoralists were to pay for the growing demand of beef in Kenya. This
ignored the fact that these were people with very specific needs for
frequent movements. The Kenya Livestock Development Project
intervention saw an increase in health and education services and
vaccination of livestock. With these free services, the local people got used
to government provision of their needs, slowing down their practice of
pastoralism (Omosa 2003; Republic of Kenya 1992). It should be noted
that the project was meant for all the pastoral areas, but ignored the
Turkana District completely (Livingstone 1986). This was despite the fact
that, up to 1979, almost 90 percent of Turkana people were engaged in
pastoralism, whereas only less than 7 percent relied on fishing, and only a
little over 2 per cent on cultivation (Ochieng-Aketch 1993).
In summary, despite the integral role played by the above programs in
improving the lives of pastoral groups in Kenya and, in particular, Turkana
region, sustainable livelihood in pastoral areas in Kenya still remains
elusive. Events in the 1990s and into the present have resulted in the
pastoral areas making little contribution to the national development and
food shortages is still a big threat. These negative events which have
impacted negatively on the pastoral livelihoods includes: withdrawal of
government from the provision of basic needs and services, for example,
the introduction of cost sharing in education, health, water supply, and
veterinary service; conflict spillover from the collapse of government in
Somalia; the 1991-1992 and 2005-2006 droughts, and famines; and more
recently, the tribal tension resulting from the 2007 Kenyan presidential
election fiasco.
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