The National Gender and Equality Commission opened a five-day mission to Turkana County on Monday 5 October 2026, taking its equality and inclusion mandate to Lodwar, Kalokol, Lokichar and Kakuma.

The delegation was led by the Chairperson, Hon. Rehema Jaldesa, with the Vice Chairperson, Commissioner Thomas Koyier, Commissioner Caroline Lentupuru, and the Commission Secretary/CEO, Dr Purity Ngina. Women dressed in Turkana traditional attire and beadwork received the delegation at Lodwar Airport, where the Chairperson signed the visitors’ book on arrival.

THE WIDER CONTEXT

The mission came at a decisive moment for the county. Gulf Energy, which took over the South Lokichar oil project, has set 1 November 2026 for the resumption of drilling and is targeting first oil in December. Turkana also hosts more than 320,000 refugees and asylum-seekers alongside host communities. 

Successive failed rains have left more than 322,000 people in the county projected to need food assistance. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission gazetted the election period for the 10 August 2027 General Election on 20 August 2026.

RETURN TO KAKUMA 

The mission followed up on the Commission’s 2019 mission to Kakuma and Kalobeyei, documented in its report Hard Living: Equality and Inclusion of Refugees in Kenya. That mission recorded three female officers among 160 police officers in Kakuma Sub-County, fees charged to survivors of sexual violence for P3 and Post Rape Care forms, and gaps in the registration of births among refugee families.

Over five days, the Commission held courtesy calls on the County Government and the County Commissioner, met the Turkana County Equality and Inclusion Technical Working Group, engaged the national government administration in Turkana West and Turkana South, and held dialogues with the Ilimanyang community in Kapua and with residents of Lokichar. The delegation also stopped at the Naduat gold mines, visited a children’s rescue centre and a school, toured the Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement, and inspected premises for a planned regional office in Lodwar. 

The Commission is established under Article 59 of the Constitution and the National Gender and Equality Commission Act, 2011 to promote gender equality and freedom from discrimination, with a focus on women, children, youth, persons with disabilities, older members of society, and minority and marginalised groups. The stories in this edition report its engagements across the county.