How Galana Kulalu project failed
By Oliver Musembi, October 17, 2022As the country grapples with severe drought and devastating famine, revival of the Galana Kulalu Irrigation project still remains key in President William Ruto’s choices of combating food insecurity.
The Sh8 billion project was expected to end the perennial shortage of maize, which is the country’s staple food by injecting 41 per cent in the country through cultivation of about one million acres of the Galana Kulalu complex, which stalled in 2019 after the government terminated the contract.
Undertaken jointly by the Kenyan and Israeli governments, the project faced some challenges in implementation that delayed its initial timelines and was marred with controversy involving misappropriation of funds.
The flagship Galana-Kulalu irrigation scheme, which sank with over Sh5 billion sourced from Israel still holds sway as a possible solution to the country’s food crisis.
First Israeli project to fail
After the collapse, Israel expressed its displeasure noting this was the first project it had funded to fail in its 70 years of its existence.
“Galana-Kulalu project was destroyed by cartels made up of maize importers and millers. They were the reason the project was deferred from the beginning,” said the then ambassador Noah Gendler.
He added; “This has dampened the spirit of the business sector in Israel. It is sad for the country. We have not given up, but this is sending very bad signals. Some people might fear investing.”
The project was initiated in 2014, leading to the signing of an agreement that year between Kenya’s National Irrigation Board (NIB) and Israeli firm Green Arava Ltd to pilot the Galana-Kulalu scheme.
The initial plan was to develop a 10,000- acre model farm out of the one millionacre irrigation scheme for crop production in Kilifi and Tana River counties.
According to the initial agreement between Israel and Kenya, a number of phases of the irrigation project were supposed to be implemented at different stages.
Among the phases was the training of 250 Kenyans in Israel. They were to take over the mega irrigation project once it was up and running to ensure transfer of knowledge and technology. According to the envoy, the cartels feared that if the project, touted as a cure to Kenya’s food insecurity, was implemented it would kill their maize importation business.
“The project has given a bad signal, but we have opened a commercial section where Israel is willing to invest,” he maintained.
The Israeli contractor had paid Sh5.2 billion out of the contract sum and withdrew its equipment from the project, claiming that it had been frustrated by NIB’s failure to pay for work already done as was agreed.
However, the Kilifi and Tana River governments are said to be in the process of initiating plans to revive it. Former Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi who is now the Senate Speaker had said they were in the process of getting back part of the irrigation scheme for the county’s food production.
Possible reviving of the plan
He noted that the regional government had volunteered 400,000 acres of land for food production under the scheme, which stalled.
“We have the capacity to utilise the land and produce food for all Kilifi people and Kenyans at large,” Kingi had said.
The irrigation project was birthed during retired President Uhuru Kenyatta’s and Ruto’s first term in 2013, to boost maize production in the country.
Ruto was later to admit that the project failed due to a lack of liability from the State.
“The recommendation from the trial of the project was what we needed to build a dam because the water from the river was not sufficient to do the Galana project. We needed to scale up,” Ruto said then.
It remains to be seen whether the Kenya Kwanza administration will put it back on course.