When Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen sets foot in Siaya for the upcoming Jukwaa la Usalama forum, he may find himself fielding more than the usual security briefs. At the heart of the county’s brewing disquiet is a rare fusion of climate action and security advocacy, spearheaded by grassroots climate champion David Oremo, who plans to formally petition the CS over what he calls the “missed link between insecurity, green jobs, and climate resilience.”
At the centre of Oremo’s push is a petition and a partnership request framed under the theme “Siaya County Green Jobs and Security Forum.” In a letter seen by SIAYA TODAY, addressed to CS Murkomen, Oremo argues that Siaya’s spiraling insecurity cannot be decoupled from unemployment, poverty, and climate vulnerabilities that have eroded livelihoods in fishing, farming, and trade.
“We are organizing a quadripartite forum for Siaya County to develop solutions to the escalating insecurity, which we attribute directly to limited economic opportunities and climate vulnerabilities,” Oremo’s petition reads in part.
A Stalled Petition Since 2023
Oremo is not merely speaking theory. He is pressing the government to act on a people-driven petition lodged on 16th December 2023, which has reportedly gathered dust in bureaucratic shelves. The petition called for legal reforms to unlock green finance and channel it into community-based projects capable of creating sustainable jobs, building resilience against climate shocks, and ultimately curbing youth-driven insecurity.
The fact that nearly two years later the petition remains unacted upon raises questions about whether climate-linked insecurity has ever been taken seriously in security circles.
Request for Murkomen’s Intervention
In his letter, Oremo directly appeals to Murkomen to make Siaya the test case of integrating climate finance into security planning. Specifically, he requests:
1. Expert Participation – that the Ministry sends the Senior Policy Advisor on Climate Finance & Green Economy to keynote at the Siaya Trade and Investment Conference in October, laying out concrete pathways to green job creation.
2. Co-Funding Partnership – that the Interior Ministry considers partial financial support to ensure all stakeholders—from government to community representatives—can participate.
Oremo insists that Murkomen’s buy-in could shift the conversation from security as a policing affair to one rooted in socio-economic resilience. “Your partnership will be instrumental in transforming this initiative into tangible green opportunities that address both insecurity and sustainable development in Siaya County,” he notes.
Why It Matters
Siaya, a county grappling with unemployment, climate-induced flooding, and the collapse of traditional income streams like fishing, has in recent years seen spikes in petty crime, gang activity, and political violence. Analysts argue that much of this instability is rooted not in ideology, but in despair.
By reframing insecurity as a climate-and-economy issue, Oremo is daring the state to broaden its lens. His approach mirrors global debates where climate change is increasingly recognized as a “threat multiplier” for security crises.
Murkomen’s response will be telling. Will he treat the petition as an inconvenient diversion during a security forum, or as an opportunity to pioneer an integrated model of security that fuses climate resilience and job creation?
Observers will also watch whether Siaya’s leaders—including Governor James Orengo and County Assembly Speaker George Okode—will rally behind Oremo’s cause or dismiss it as an activist distraction.
For now, the stage is set. At the Jukwaa la Usalama in Siaya, it will no longer be enough to simply talk about police patrols and administrative boundaries. The pressing question is whether Kenya’s security establishment is ready to accept that in the era of climate change, jobs, resilience, and peace are inseparable.
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