På besøg i et område af Kenya, hvor olien snart ventes at springe – her er det som at være på en hel anden planet end hovedstaden Nairobi med dens knejsende højhuse og intense liv; ikke desto mindre er flyene til “nowhere” booket op.
LODWAR/LOKICHAR, 29 May 2012 (IRIN): Although just a few hundred kilometres from Nairobi, the county of Turkana, where newly-confirmed oil reserves are set to go on stream in the next few years, feels more like a million kilometres away from the gleaming skyscrapers and concentrations of power and money found in Kenya’s capital.
Residents of Lokichar, the closest settlement to the viable (levedygtige) oil concession, speak of “Kenya” as if it were an entirely different country and of “Kenyans” – or “the people with long trousers” – as if they were foreigners.
Turkana’s socioeconomic indicators do indeed set it apart.
More than 96 percent of its predominantly pastoralist population are categorized as poor, the highest proportion in the country.
Turkana also trails near the bottom of national leagues in terms of employ-ment, literacy and healthcare spending.
Only 39 percent of the youth aged 15-18 in Turkana attend school, compared to the national average of 70.9 percent.
Can oil, coupled with an unprecedented process of political devolution (decentralisering) enshrined in a new constitution, reverse Turkana’s fortunes?
In Lodwar, the region’s main town, where the principal economic activity has long been basket-weaving, there are few positive signs.
Among the new businesses springing up is the Ngamia-1 Mobile Phone Repair Shop, named after the promising oil well. There are also several new hotels, guest houses and restaurants.
Formerly half-empty flights to Lodwar now tend to be fully booked.
Hopes
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http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95547/KENYA-Oil-hope-and-fear
