After the Mudslides: Elgeyo-Marakwet’s Search for Safety on the Escarpment

Kenya, 16 December 2025 - When the hills of Chesongoch and Kipkenda gave way a few months ago, the earth did not merely swallow homes and farms—it tore through families, livelihoods and a deep sense of security.

Thirty-nine lives were lost in the landslides, leaving behind grieving communities and a painful question that still lingers across Elgeyo-Marakwet County: could this tragedy have been prevented?

In the quiet villages along the escarpment, memories of that day remain raw.

Scarred slopes now stand as reminders of the delicate balance between human survival and the land that sustains it.

It is against this backdrop that the county government is rethinking how people live, farm and coexist with a fragile environment that has increasingly turned deadly.

The Department of Water, Environment and Climate Change has begun drafting and rolling out special regulations aimed at preventing future landslides, mudslides and related disasters.

For county officials, the effort is both technical and deeply human—a response shaped by loss.

Speaking to residents in Mindiliwo, Keiyo North Constituency, County Executive Committee Member for Water, Environment and Climate Change, Jason Lagat, said the county had “retreated to reflect” after the tragedy, resolving to develop laws that place safety and environmental restoration at the centre of local livelihoods.

At the heart of the new approach is the revival of the long-dormant “Spencer Line,” a conservation rule that restricts farming beyond designated high-risk zones on the escarpment.

Introduced during the colonial era and later abandoned, the Spencer Line once acted as a buffer between human activity and the most unstable sections of the hills.

For many residents, the mention of the Spencer Line stirs anxiety—fears of eviction or loss of farmland.

Lagat sought to ease those concerns, insisting that the policy is not about pushing people off their land.

“We are not saying we want to chase away people so that they don’t farm on the escarpment,” he said.

“What we want is safer, smarter farming.”

The county’s solution lies in changing what grows on the slopes. Instead of maize and beans—staple crops that leave soil exposed and unstable—residents are being encouraged to plant fruit trees and other perennial crops such as avocado, coffee and mangoes.