From: Tedd Kamau
The death of Osama bin Laden has swept the entire planet with joy at least to the Americans.
While that may be ‘good news’ it goes without saying that his recruits are at large. It reminds me of situation where you kill the mother snake but the eggs are all over with some still yet to hatch.
Though justice has been done, it may be too early to celebrate don’t you think…
Welcome to the second issue of this magazine on tourism and cultural development of the Lake Basin Region in Western Kenya. Our first issue came out in 2009 and this one comes up as a follow up to the first issue come out in 2009 and this one comes up as a follow up to the first issue.
In this issue, once again, we present you with a varied range of items including essays, sceneries and hotel accommodation within the region of great interest in the regard hotel accommodation is the statistical data that we have given, in terms of hotel bed nights occupancy by zone (2003 – 2008) also of interest is the statistical data on the number of visitors to some attractions in the Western tourist circuit (2004-2008). An insight into the potential investments opportunities in the western tourist circuit is also given as well as the regions aspirations towards Kenya’s vision 2030. The magazine also covers the available tour operator and classification of tourist establishment.
In Kisumu especially some of the activities that one may engage in include, entertainment by traditional groups, prayers, chairs, drama, visits museum to Ruma National Park, Impala Park Kisumu Museum, Kakamega Forest Mt. Elgon, cultural exhibitions, boat racing and boat surfing.
There are so many stakeholders within the region also. These as you need include the Lake Basin development Authority, Ministry of tourism and wildlife the national museums of Kenya (Kisumu). The Lake Victoria Basin Film Makers Guild (Kenya) and the universities within and around the region partnership within the universities is of special significance since universities around also do have department of Tourism, Film and Cultural Development. The universities around include, Maseno University, Bondo University college Maseno University Homa Bay Campus Masinde Muliro university of science & technology and Moi University.
The vision of the region in terms of tourism and cultural development is to be a global leader in the world tourism and cultural development circuit in line with the millennium development goals and vision 2030.
The mission of the region in terms of the above is to promote the conservation and sustainable utilization of tourism and development issue through generation, documentation, dissemination of research and collection, management, knowledge information and innovation in regard to tourism and cultural issues and development.
Our core function, envisaged include the following to (1) serve as a national repository for things of scientific, cultural, technological and human interest (2) to identify, protect and conserve and transmit the cultural and natural heritage of the region (3) to promote cultural resources in the interest of social and economic development.
All the above are with the express interest of demonstrating expertise, efficiency, competence, mutual cooperation with stakeholders, creativity towards innovation and adaptation to the ever emerging trends in tourism and cultural development.
We sincerely hope that you enjoy your reading of our issue and we look forward to your ever welcome contributions on how we can together, materialize our aspirations as outlined here in thank you and welcome again. Happy prosperous Year.
AKECH OBAT MASIRA
PUBLISHER
LAKE BASIN JEWEL MAGAZINE
TEL: +254726164954
http/misangoarts.blogspot.com
google search: obat masira
BY Dickens Wasonga.
The 3 billion shillings Kisumu International Airport upgrading project whose construction attracted a lot of controversy three years ago when it was launched will now be officially operational by the end of May this year.
This follows the successful completion of the upgrading works carried out by the China Overseas Engineering Company COVEC, which won the tender in October 2008 to do the project funded by the government of Kenya and the World Bank. It was expected to last just 22 months.
Local MPs led by the transport minister Amos Kimunya tours the facility last year.
Giving highlights of the progress of the project so far to journalists in Kisumu the Airport manager Mr. Joseph Okumu said the project delayed by a few months after the initial works which included extension of the current runway by just a kilometer to two was changed to 3.3 kilometers by 45 meters wide.
Mr. Okumu said even the terminal building which was originally designed to have just the ground floor was modified to include mezzanine floor in order to accommodate more passengers and give room for additional commercial opportunities that will come with the new facility.
According to him, a lot of improvement works was undertaken alongside the main project. He gave the example of the improved navigation facilities which saw a state of the art -very high Omni directional Radio Range facility installed.
In order to fit into its new international status, the airport administration has been organizing a lot of training of the personnel at the facility.
Recently over ten of its crew drawn from the fire and rescue departments were taken through a course on diving skills.
Procedures have also been enhanced to meet set standards and the facility now have a marine rescue committee and not long ago it put to test its emergency procedures by holding an emergency drill where all the relevant agencies participated.
The manager added that all the airport staff have also undertaken a cause on safety and security awareness and were now better prepared to handle safety and security concerns of the passengers whose numbers are expected to rise soon.
The airport has a capacity to handle 3000,000 passengers per year at the moment but it will handle additional 2million passengers for a similar period upon upgrading.
When complete the new terminal will be handling both domestic and international passengers of an estimated 700 per hour.
Growth in number of passenger has been witnessed since the upgrading began at the airport and today it has daily flights to Mwanza and Entebbe together with an increased chartered operator flights.
Jet link, Fly 540 operating in conjunction with East Africa Safaris Express and national carrier Kenya Airways currently has scheduled fights.
The Jet Link plane during the launch of additional flights to Mwanza and Entebbe late last year.
‘’They have all increased their frequency with Jet link operating 6 flights daily, KQ 4 and Fly 540 doing 3’’ said Okumu.
Amongst other facilities the new terminal will have dedicated water and power supply system and a state of the art stand by generators.
Modern safety and security equipment, modern passenger processing facilities, business class lounges, and self service customer kiosks for departing clients will be available.
Aircraft hanger for maintenance of aircraft which was previously lacking will also be included and taxi operators and other motorists will now enjoy automated car park facilities.
Air craft such as Boeng 767 or Airbus 300 and 310 will now be able to land or take off at the upgraded facility.
There will be several business and rental opportunities which will be offered to interested business people in competitive tenders. The Kenya Airports Authority will soon advertise the opportunities to the public through the local dailies.
The opportunities will include ground handling cargo transit sheds, fuel firms, car park management, airport advertising and flying schools. Others will include duty free shops, restaurants amongst others.
A lot of jobs will therefore be created directly or indirectly to several jobless people not only in Kisumu but throughout the region.
The manager disclosed that more airport staff will be hired by KAA. Some will be absorbed to work as customer service personnel, safety and security staff, operational and maintenance staff, etc.
‘’We expect to have more airline staff, more taxi operators while parastatal and other government ministries or agencies such as KRA, immigration, KEBS will now have to post their teams here. Horticultural companies, additional health staff and medical personnel, more caterers and ground handling staff will be required’’ he added.
People have already reaping huge benefits from the airport project which initially faced a stiff opposition from the members of Kogony clan on whose land the upgrading work were to be done.
Many have since been compensated for the land acquired by the project and some now live in permanent houses constructed from the proceeds of the sale of land.
Locals also enjoy enhanced security while value for land adjacent to the facility has appreciated tremendously. Several construction projects have also sprung up around the facility while numerous hotels have been built or are under construction within and around the lake side city.
Even the sate light towns as far as Ahero are now feeling the growth ahead of the commissioning of the new facility which will greatly open up the region for serious business undertakings with the rest of the world. Fish, horticultural products will now be exported directly to Europe and other world markets.
Other beneficiaries are those currently residing in sprawling Kisumu slum areas of Bandani, Riat, Obunga and Otonglo which neighbor the airport which are currently under slum upgrading program.
A modern school is being established at Usoma. The modern primary school with a capacity of 500 pupils is near completion and was built at a cost of KSH 20 million from KAA. Its second phase will cost slightly more.
Access road is also under construction to link the airport and the Kisian junction and will help to rehabilitate the now dilapidated section between Kisian and Otonglo.
‘’This facility will be an added advantage in several fronts. It will be a major economic boost not only to the people around here but even into the national economy.
Tourism will get a boost as well as more international visitors land to sample the local culture and tour some of the numerous attraction sites within the western Kenya tourism circuit.’’ Said Okumu.
ENDS.
Writes Leo Odera Omolo
KENYA will have to re-think about its marketing strategies in order to attract more high-end tourism from its traditional markets whose revenue dropped by USD 329 million last year.
Kenya earned a total of USD 021 million up by 18 per cent from USD 7680 million the previous year, but this figure fell below the USD 1.15 billion target.
Tourist arrival fell below the 1.2 million targets to settle at 1,095,842, as key markets registered a drop in performance with exception of Italy that recorded a 10 per cent rise in visitors compared with 2009 figures.
United Kingdom went down 2.4 per cent and Germany by 1.1 per cent as South Africa and Switzerland fell by 0.3 per cent.
The Minister for Tourism Najib Balala was last week quoted by the weekly EASTAFRICAN as saying that Kenya will need to spend more on marketing its beaches and game safaris, and stop political infighting, which was souring the country’s image.
“This way,” said the Minister, “Kenya will be able to meet the two million target tourist’s arrival by 2012 and three million by 2015”. He said this while releasing the full year industry performance results for the 2010. “So far we have done well investing in the new markets such as India, China and Africa, but we need to do more,” he added.
The Minister disclosed that more resources would be invested in aggressive campaigns this year to help the industry tap from the political turmoil in North Africa affecting key competitors namely Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.
Despite declining numbers, the old markets maintained the lead in tourist’s arrivals. The United Kingdom took the lead registering 174,051 followed by the US 107,842 while Italy and Germany took third and fourth positions at 87,694 and 63,011.France took the fifth position with 50.009 visitors.
Although regional performance has not been fully tallied, Uganda topped the African market with 33,900 tourists followed by South Africa at 33,076, Tanzania had 30,264 tourists.
From Asian markets, India led the pack with 47,611 arrivals followed by China 28,480 and United Arab Emirates saw 14,874 tourists visit the country However, the figure exclude the cross border tour9st arrival which could add up to another approximately 700,000 once the results is fully tallied according to the Ministry.
Meanwhile the 15 member countries of the Southern African Development Community {SADC} are scheduled to hold a meeting in June this year to determine the date and time table when a single tourists visa will be introduced.
The meeting will be held in the Zambian capital, Lusaka. Billed as a “grand debate” the meeting is expected to come up with an action plan that will lead to the establishment of the single tourist visa.
This was recently disclosed by the Tanzania’s Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Ezekiel Maige who said the move will save the visitors the trouble of hopping from one embassy to another to apply for the visa for the country they intended to visit within the SADC trading bloc.
SADC has a membership of 15 countries namely Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo {DRC}, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
He minister was further quoted as saying that although tourism has the potential to become of Southern Africa’s largest industries, the sector’s growth is hampered by unnecessary visa requirements.
Another top official of the Tourism Organization of Southern Africa {retosa} was quoted in the same context as saying that Southern African states largest industry, the sector’s growth is hampered by unnecessary visa requirements.
Dr.Brodah Munganidze said the Southern Africa trading bloc hampered by the lack reliable air transport. Apart from South Africa,other countries in the region have small airlines that susceptible to global economic fluctuations. “ In June this year we shall debate the possibility of establishing a joint SADC airline that will make our region more competitive in tourism industry..
The role of RETOSA is to encourage the relevant sector in the region to establish a tourism visa in order to increase the market share and revenue of the region in the world tourism. The proposal to establish single airline is also aimed art making air travel to be the cheapest means of transport in the region.
Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
Report compiled By Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City.
The new constitution of Kenya, which was promulgated by President Mwai Kibaki on August 4, 2010 , and which created 47 Counties, will now open up most of the interior parts of Western Kenya for tourists.
It will open the regions surrounding Lake Victoria for overseas tourists as it will revive the forty five year old sleeping and nearly forgotten blueprint for Western Kenya Tourist Circuit.
Officially launched in 1966 by the then Minister for Tourism and Wildlife in the post-independence government headed by the founding President, the late Jomo Kenyatta, the late Samuel Onyango Ayodo who by then was the MP for Kasipul-Kabondo,the circuit was meant well to give the communities living in the Lake Victoria basin an opportunity to receive overseas visitors.
The program, however, was shelved for years for some unknown political reasons and did not see the light of the day. It remained in the drawing board for well over four decades. Local political pundits believes, this was part of the elaborate scheme hatched by the Kenyatta government to marginalize ad economically strangled rural communities living in the region, especially the residents of the highlands west of the Rift Valley for political reasons.
For many years, tourists from overseas countries were always diverted to the coast and to Kenya’s fertile National in Tsavo East and West National Game Parks and Reserves, which are located between the Coast and Eastern regions, and the famous Maasai Mara Game Park, Meru and Mt Kenya National Game Park and other parks like Abardare and Lake Nakuru Parks With exception of the famous Maasai Mara Game Park, most of these parks are situated in the highlands, east of the Rift Valley.
The aims and objectives were meant to frustrate the communities living in the region around the Lake Victoria basin. And it worked well temporarily serving the purposes of its perpetrators.
In the old days, Tourists were denied the opportunity of visiting the most populous regions in Western Kenya so that they could meet the people and view the villages as well as learnt about their rich diverse cultures and tradition in the villages.
A new private enterprise firm owned by a Kisumu and Nairobi based business magnate Aloys Otieno of the Otieno and Associates has embarked on a well elaborate plan to open and resuscitate the sleeping Western Kenya Tourist Circuit.
The plan is to open up the regions for tourists on several routes, which is expected to cover nearly all the tourist attraction centers, pre-historic sites, game parks with rare stocks wild animals species, bird watching sites, fish landing beaches.
When implemented fully, the program is expected to take the tourist to the Lake Basin regions via several routes, during which the visitors would have a golden opportunities of viewing the unique and green landscapes consisting of tea plantations, the largest concentration of Flamingoes in Lake Nakuru and Lake Elmtaita, hinterland lakes in Baringo County and the Mt Elgon on the northern zones.
It will take the visitors to the southern routes which include the Maasai Mara Game Park and Ruma National Game Park in Lambwe valley, which is situated only a few kilometers of the eastern shorelines of Lake Victoria in Homa-Bay County.
On the middle route, the circuit will take the visitors to the unique Kit Mikaye double storey Rock, which is located a few meters beside the Ksumu-Bondo main road in the west of Kisumu City and also branch o northward to the famous “Crying Rock, which situated a few kilometers outside Kakamega Town in the Kakamega County, and the visitors if lucky enough could have a chance of visiting the nearby Kakamega Forest, which famed to be the home of the deadliest poisonous snakes and unique species of birds.
All these places have very unique stories accompanying them. Tourist may be tempted to drive further west to Alego Kgelo Nyang’oma home of the now famous family of the US President Barack Obama in the Siaya County. President Obama has a family route in Kenya and ever since his accession to power in the US, which is one of the most powerful nation on the earth, there has been a great influx of foreign visitors to the tiny and previously sleeping and backward dusty rural village
Several tourist class hotels have sprung up in Alego Kogelo ancestral home of President Obama which is the burial sites of his grand father Hussein Onyango Obama and his biological father the late Barack Hussein Obama Senior. The Obama cultural Center is currently under the construction, and when completed will cater for the visitors as the family history and other works of the late Obama Snr., a former top economist adviser to the Kenya government.
Depending on the tourist guides, the visitors may drive on past Siaya Town and visit the nearby Lake Kanyaboli, which plans are no a foot to establish a small animal sanctuary to protect the rare, but extremely endangered sitatunga antelopes warthogs, wild-pigs, water-bucks and birds, the re-claimed Yala Swamp now housing a multinational rice farm owned by the multinational Dominion Farm Ltd from the US. The reclaimed land comprises an area roughly estimated to be approximately 17,500 hectares.
The tourist may drive on and cross the River Yala and visit the famous Got Ramogi, which is believed by the local communities to be the first homestead of the famous Ramogi Ajwang’, which is the ancestor of most of the Southern Luos who settled in Kenya about 600 years after harrowing movement from the Southern Sudan, through Uganda and Kenya. Parts of the community moved on and settled in the North Mara district in Western Tanzania. Got Ramogi was recently declared as an historic site, and a structure signifying its importance in the shape of a museum or a tourist camp is planned.
Otieno and Associate an enterprise owned by a Kenyan family has acquired the fleet of new vehicles which include several four-wheel drives vehicle for rough terrain of roads.
The tourists visiting this route may drive backward southern-ward and land at the Nyamira Kang’o Kajaramogi home of the late hero and freedom fighter, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, who is the father of Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga. An ultra mausoleum has been construct there, which is housing all the work of the fame hero and the uncompromising champion fighter for democracy in Kenya..
Further southern, the tourist could drove up to Luanda-Kotieno jetty and catch up with Mbita Ferry on a the forty minutes voyage across the shallow water of the Nyanza Gulf to Mbita Point and drove on eight miles to the Mausoleum of another famed freedom fighter the late Tom Mboya at his Matenga village home village, Kamasengre home on Rusinga Island, where a mausoleum is built and declared as part of the National Museum.
And before one reached the late Mboya’s home there is another unique tourist attraction site called Nyama-Gi-Ware. Two small rocks in the sampling the two bulls fighting inside the lake near Wanyama fish landing beach and trading center. The locals believes and maintains that the two rocks were atone time living animals and one bull belonged to Ware the ancestral father of the Waware the largest clan on Rusing island and the other one belonged to Mnyama, a brother of Ware. And that the two bulls fought the fiercest battle until they enter into the lake water and turned rocks. The story is sounding rather suppesitution, but the rocks are worth viewing by any visitor on Rusinga Island.
Several tourist class hotels have sprung up ever since the opening of Rusinga Island via the causeway bridge across Mbita Chanel. They include Mbita Beach Hotel on the mainland, Mbita Holiday Inn Hotel on Rusing Island and a unique Lodge, which is not far away from Mboya’s home. There are also several middle class hotels, which could accommodate the tourist on both side of the Mbita Channel.
And from Rusinga Island tourists using boats could cruise on a one hour voyage to Mfangano Island where there are plenty to be seen. There are Old Caves and the unique Soklo Platoon for birds watching. This sparsely inhabited Island but large in size than its twin Rusinga Island.
There are properly maintained airstrips on both Rusinga and Mfangano Isands where planes carrying tourist have been landing almost on daily basis from Maasai Mara’s Kekorok based airstrip or flying tourists directly from Wilson Airport in Nairobi.
Coming back to the mainland, visitor could drive directly to Ruma National Game Park in Lambwe Valley which has plenty of wild animals including the rare Roan Antelope, which are only found in Simba Hills and the coats and also in the Republic of South Africa. There is a disused tourist lodge, which was built close to 50 years ago by the then African District Council of South Nyanza, but which run-down and closed down its business in the late 1960s due to lack of customers. This magnificent could be renovated by a private entrepreneur and open its door once again if an investor could be found. It is situated rigt inside the Ruma National game Park
Tourist could move on to Gwassi Hills and travel down to Nyandiwa for a view of another important pre-historic site of Nyamgondho Wuod Ombare. Here the visitors come early in the morning hours, they could be able to see footprints of a man and his domestic animals on the rocks, which are believed to be that of the legendary Nyamgondho and his estranged bogus wife, who is believed to have deserted him and disappeared in the lake with her domestic animals and other sources of wealth.
The trip could take the visitors up to Sori Town in Karungu Bay or make a return journey to Mbita via Sindo and onward to Homa-Bay or drives on to Aora -Chuodho via the burial site of the famous polygamist the late Akuku Denja who died and was buried last December. A Mausoleum has since been constructed on the dangerman’s grave. The man is famed for having married close to 102 wives with whom he sired 216 children.
THE ECONOMIC DYNAMICS OF LAKE VICTORIA, AND ITS INFRASTRACTURAL DEVELOPMENT ITS REPERIAN COUNTIES TO SPUR GROWTH UNDER THE KENYA’S NEW CONSTITUTION DISPENSATION.
Kenyan portion of Lake Victoria which is only 1/6of the lake is bordered by the riparian Counties of Busia,Siaya.Kisumu,Homa-Bay and Migori.
The Nyanza Gulf part of Lake Victoria is shallow, highly polluted and frequently invaded by water hyacinth weed which is grossly impeding fishing and navigational of transport vessels.
The rise and fall of Lake Victoria waters and factors mentioned above have slowed down economic activities in the Western Kenyan regions.
With collapse of the Kenya Railways Corporation marine services in the 199s, main economic activities in the region are fishing and marine transport by ssese canoes which are prone to fatal marine accidents. Most of the vessels carrying large quantities of cargo to Kisumu port come from Tanzania and Uganda.
Gulf waters are of little economic use now as fish has emigrated o the deep and larger part of the lake. Waters highly polluted to an extent of even domestic animals do not use it. It is time other economic activities are introduced to spur development in the riparian counties.
Lake Victoria and rivers flowing into it are the major natural resources of the region whose waters should be put to better economic uses.
The Kenya Vision 2030, the current economic blueprint of the Kenya government and new constitution devolving development to the countries calls for initiation of new economic development in the region with the countries need to provide infrastructure for integrated transport system to attract investors to spur economic growth of the region.
To make good economic use of Lake Victoria new vessels need to be introduced for fishing and marine transport. Other activities such as cruise shipping leisure boat rides sport {games} fishing, water sports, rowing ,sailing and surfing need to be introduced to diversify economic activities.
“Hydrographic surveys must be carried out in the lake, navigational charts produced and navigational marks such as lights and buoys put in place. Safety of navigation and vessels can only be secured when the waters are charted as investors would not put in their vessels in uncharted waters“, says an expert.
Captain John Martin Odhach a retired captain who has since became a consultant on marine transport suggested in an article that ports and beaches in the riparian countries should be developed through the construction of piers, jetties and good access roads. Areas served by ferries with bow doors have to be with landing ramps.
Disposition of the ports and beaches are listed bellow;- Busia County Sio Port, Port Victoria, Marenga and Osieko Beach In Siaya County are Osieko Beach, Usenge Beach, Uhanya Beach, Wich Lum, Misori, Luanda KJotieno, Wayaga Beach, Kunya Beach and Asembo -Bay.
Kisumu County has the following beaches: Kaloka Beach, Ndere Island, Kisumu Port, Duga Beach, Sango Beach and Kusa Beach.
Homa-BayCounty has the following beaches: Karabondi, Seka Beach, Kendu Bay,Wath Mainuga,Kowuor, Homa-Bay, Mbita Town,Wanyama Beach, Utajo Beach,Luanda Kolunga, Siehenga and, Rusinga,Sindo Beach, Nyandiwa and Kisegi as well and Mfangano.
Migori County has the fewest beaches. They include Sori Bay in Karungu, Muhuru Bay and Migingo Island which is currently under the administrative authority of Uganda.
Kisumu City which is the regional hub of business and getaway to East Africa now houses regional and national institutions with mandate for economic development of the region such as Lake Victoria Basin Commission, an institution of the East African Community, Lake Basin Development Authority, Lake Victoria Environmental Program, Lake Victoria Water Management and Western fisheries as well as the regional branch of the Western Kenya Fisheries Research Institute.
The East African Common Market with a population of close to 120 million people is a bigger trading bloc requiring better coordinated integrated transport system of air, land water for better service delivery.
The new Counties should by now start putting infrastructure for integrated transport system by developing air strips, ports, piers, access roads, trunk roads and hydrographic surveys in the lake.
Experts says that the Lake Victoria navigational charts currently in use were published in 1901 when the lake was being opened for navigation to complete Uganda Railways arts in 1936,but since then the lake has experienced rise and fall in water level. The navigation Charts are now archaic and danger to navigation
It is now imperative that the lake must have hydrographic surveys carried out for the production of up-to date navigation Charts.
The East African governments have seen the importance of Lake Victoria Basin Commission with mandate to control and regulate marine transport, safety of navigation, vessels, training of marine personnel and efficient manning of ships plying the lake as promulgated by Lake Victoria Act f the EAC.
The government of Kenya and its counties should work with the Lake Basin Commission in effecting Hydrographic Surveys, particularly in the ports and beaches in the riparian counties to enhance safety. Navigation and port charts to be produced with navigational aids such as lights, buoys, wrecks and navigational danger marked on the charts for guidance of boat operators.
The Central government and countries have to construct ports the pier, jetties, ferry landing ramps and anchorages for vessels. Construction of facilities such as cold storage, passenger lounge should be essential part parts of the larger plan for tourist attraction to the regions.
The Central government and the countries need to construct ports, piers, ferry landing ramps anchorage,for mooring vessels.The jetties, piers, anchorage and channels need to be dredged to a reasonable depth for safety of vessels. Under water obstruction to be removed and danger points clearly marked with buoys.
Water hyacinth weed has been impediment to navigation activities in the lake for a long time, particularly in the Nyanza Gulf [Kavirondo Gulf] where it has been blocking ports and beaches The government, counties the government, counties and the Lake Victoria Basin Commission need to work out methods of removing these weeds manually by the labor which is abundance in the region.
The removal of hyacinth weeds will make navigation safe in Lake Victoria. The counties in turn and for the purpose ports attracting more revenues should construct access roads for ease of connections between air, land and water transport. Counties should strength the management of ports, beaches, recreation facilities to enhance their revenue base. The government and counties need to encourage local and international investors to participate in the creation of facilities and amenities.
Investors should be welcomed to put up boat building and repair yards in selected ports with resources as Kisumu City. Kenyan should be assisted to venture into acquisition by guaranteeing loans fro the lending financial institutions to provide marine transport and fishing..
The local counties should provide land in the ports and beaches for building of hotels and recreation amenities. The local Counties should create enabling environment for doing business by providing regulations which enhances safety and security of property and people.
INTEGRATED TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE AROUND LAKE VICTORIA AND SURROUNDING COUNTRYSIDE VILLAGES.
Kisumu City is arguably the hub of economic activities of the Western Kenya region and has a weekly regional market at Kibuye, which is serving Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi and to the extent Southern Sudan. The City is served by rail, road , air and water transport. Kisumu Airport is being upgraded to international standard and will soon be handling larger commercial planes carrying more passengers and cargo for international destinations.
The increase in trade in the region call for better integrated transport system to facilitate the movement of people and traded goods. Rail transport in the region is very limited as the line from Nairobi enters Kisumu County at Koru before reaching Kisumu City. There is a short rail line from Kisumu to Butere in Kakamega County transiting through Siaya County at Yala Town.
Major trunk roads in the region link Kisumu County to Busia Town, Port Victoria, Siaya Town, Mbita Town, Osieko Beach, Luanda K0otieno, Kendu-Bay, Homa-Bay, Migori Town, Muhuru Bay Town Oyugis Town and Sori Town in Karungu Bay. These roads form ring roads around Kenya portion of Lake Victoria. It was planned that by the year 2010 all ring roads around the lake were to be tarmacked and made all weather roads.
The poor dirt access roads to the port and beaches from the trunk roads and counties need to build these roads to ll weather standards to access transport jetties and piers.
When Lake Victoria Hydrographic surveys are completed navigational aids will be in place. Jetties and piers constructed for berthing of vessels, investors will be attracted to deploy their vessels for the provision of marine transport, leisure trips and water sports in the lake.
Residents of the region will be in a position to tap economic potentials of Lake Victoria by diversifying the uses of the waters such as surfing, rowing, surfing and fishing. About two million of cargo transported through the lake mainly in vessels owned by Tanzanian and Ugandan nationals,. Establishment of East African Community as a trading bloc of 120 people, has created huge market with big volume of traded goods requiring efficient marine transport. There is great potential for investing in vessels to provide marine services required in the lake.
Kenya owned Mbita Ferry provides service on the Mbita Channel between Luanda Kotieno in Uyoma peninsula to Mbita Point. The ferries owned by a local entrepreneurs Mr Sammy Wakiaga of Rusinga Island are sometime contracted to provide marine transport services to other destinations in the lake. The services offered at port from Kisumu to Mbita Town and environs by three hours.
Other routes to be opened up are Sio Port/Port Victoria to Rusinga and Mfangano Islands,Wayaga Beach to Homa-Bay, Kendu Bay, Asembo Bay Kowuor and Kisumu. There will be increased agricultural production of food crops to supply local demand particularly the larger Kisumu City market and for export to international market via the newly expanded Kisumu Airport. Fishing in the lake and fish farming will be enhanced for the production of fish. Agriculture and fishing are labor intensive which will result in employment of many people, especially the youths and school-leavers.
Kisumu City being the hub of economic activities in the region will be served by vessels from all over the ports and beaches in the region and those from neighboring countries of Uganda, Tanzania. Marine transport will spur trade in the region, local and foreign tourists will access the vessels for transport and recreation thereby spurring economic growth. The area now calls for the establishment of stronger road transport activities, and local business magnates are called upon to invest into small and bigger passenger vehicles to supplement the marine transport.
Horticulture crops such as vegetables, green maize, flowers grown in the area will be transported to Kisumu on a daily bas to meet the demand of Kisumu City population and for export to international market at Kisumu Airport.
Special built vessels for leisure trips and recreation will serve the tourists and locals who will want to enjoy these facilities. The newly created counties will need to provide integrated transport for people to access the facilities offered by the lakeside city.
Ends
Leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
Kenyans,
Kenya is a very beautiful country: In Kenya alone we have 43 tribes today, and if you count also Kenyon whites, Asians, Arabs, south Americans, Australians, etc we do have avast number of human natural resources. A wonderful language wealth which is just waiting to be developed by the high IQ holders in the country. On top of this we do have a lot of wild life, birds, lions, elephants etc. Kenya have mountains, rivers, lakes, great rift valley etc. The beauty of our country is beyond describing in this e-mail.
But what sometimes let our country down is the type of advertisements the country put outside Kenya to attract tourists or visitors. Kenya is still blindly copying the types of advertisements the British used to make during colonialism or immediately after Independence. The British used to sell Kenya abroad by showing naked Masais dancing with spears, wild animals and dirty poor Kenyans. I am surprised to see still in some Kenyan foreign embassies full with the old primitive advertisement. For heavenly sake Kenya is not only Masais, or wild animals. In Kenya we do have a lot to show outside, a lot which is still unknown to the Europeans or USA.
Take for example: Europe is now in a financial dilemma, there is no money, universities which used to accommodate African studies are receiving less money than before. A lot of these universities are now cutting down the number of African students. So why can“t our country advertise that in Kenya we do have also universities; you can come to Kenya to learn, not only to see elephants or Masais. Kenya can tap a lot of education funds from European or USA students. Through those funds and a vast majority of foreign students; our country can gain a lot including even the brain drain from Europe. We can expand our universities far much beyond the horizon and above.
We Kenyans should bring change to make visitors come to see also the other 42 tribes in Kenya too.
Paul Nyandoto
County News Analysis By Odera Omolo In Kisumu City.
The newly created County of Kisumu is expected to be the nerve center of Western Kenya and at the same time the getaway to East and Central African countries of the East African Community member states.
The County, which is created under the new constitutional dispensation with a City equipped with an ultra modern newly expanded Airport is expected to be not only nerve center for the entire Western Kenya, but a major commercial link center between Kenya and other landlocked African states in the Great Lakes region.
The new counter covered six parliamentary electoral constituencies of Nyakach, Nyando, Muhoroni, Kisumu Town East, Kisumu Town West and Kisumu Rural. Two these constituencies namely Kisumu Town East and Kisumu Town West are cosmopolitan housing in nature multiracial and multi-ethnic societies.
It border Karachuonyo to the southwest, Kasipul-Kabondo to the south, Belgut to the surtheast, Ainamoi to the east, Tinderet to the northeast, Aldai to the north, Vihiga to the north, Emuhaya to the northwest,Gem in the northwest and Rarieda to the west.
The county most volatile area is its border between Nyakach and Belgut due to the re-emergence of dangerous cattle rustling, which has so far resulted in more than ten deaths within Upper and lowers Nyakach regions. Its other borders are quiet and life continued in the normal way.
The County is rich in fishing and fish trade with Kisumu City having close to three fish processing plants. There were more five such plants when the fish trade was booming a couple of years ago, but due to the scarcity of fish, some were forced to close down their business prematurely.
Fishermen are scattered along the eastern shore of Lake Victoria, especially in the Nyanza Gulf [formerly Kavirondo Gulf}. They are in Nyakach, Nyando, Kisumu Town, Kisumu Rural and Seme areas. This is one of the trades which can boost the economy of the City whose populations is being moderately estimated to be between 3 and 4 million people.ost of these people are peasant living in rural locations and the rest concentrates in the peri-urban areas of Obunga, Nyalenda,Pand-Pieri, Dunga,Manyatta and Kondele satellite cities.
The City, however, suffered the brunt of the 2008 post-election violence which saw the traders and businessmen suffering the heaviest losses, which experts had estimated to be in the region of Kshs 6 billion. The City has yet to recover fully from these orgies and madness as well as intensive looting and massive destruction of properties during the mayhem that followed the disputed presidential election result in December 2007.
Agriculturally, the County of Kisumu could be the richest administrative area in the defunct Nyanza Province. It is housing four of the now close to eight white sugar manufacturing factories in the country. These are Kibos Sugar and Allied Industries at Kibos in the outskirt of Kisumu City, the run-down Miwani Sugar Mills at Miwani, Chemelil Sugar Company at Chemelil and Muhoroni Sugar Company, which is located next to the Muhoroni town.
All these factories boost can boost the employment opportunities for close to 10,000 workers if they properly managed and functioning in accordance to their daily production capacity. More people could also be absorbed on income generating jobs as casuals and those indirectly employed at the existing plant.
Bu the poverty index in the region, is the highest especially along the Nyanza sugar belt which covers three administrative districts of Muhoroni, Nyando and partly Kisumu East.
This could be attributed to maladministration, mismanagement, massive corruption and poor planning prompting the residents of the sugar belt region to call for the hastened privatization of the sugar factories. Two of the factories Muhoroni and Miwani are currently under what was termed ten years ago as “protective Official Receivership” which forced Miwani to closedown.
The government also stands blamed for lack of a clear-cut policy towards resuscitation of the permanently ailing sugar industry, and turn it around to a vibrant industrial concern for the economic growth of the nation.
The Countyof Kisumu is also situated in an area well known for its rice production. The rice is produced in the two schemes at Ahero and Kabonyo Rice Scheme. The government through the Lake Basin Development Authority had secured a huge loan from the African Development Bank and used the money in established the rice plant at Kibos in the outskirt of Kisumu City.
The multi-million shilling Rice factory at Kibos is currently under used due to acute shortage of paddies.
So far a number of leading Luo personalities have come forward offering their candidatures for the various position of governance within the new County. Other s have declared their intention to contest the various slots presented by the new constitution.
The Senate seat for Kisumu County appeared to have attracted more personalities who included the the Nairobi based business magnate Eng.Maxwell Otieno Odongo of the Otieno Odongo and Partners Engineering firm.
The engineer-cum-high court lawyer, Eng.Otieno Odongo is also running chain of businesses including rice milling, posho milling, tourist class hotel at Homa-Bay and Kisumu Town and is also involved in large scale sugar cane farming in Kibos areas.
Other names being mentioned in connection to the Senate contest include that of a Nairobi architect and former Gor Mahia FC chairman Ocholla Ogoda, former Nyakach MP Peter Odoyo,
Former Kisumu Town East MP Eric Gor Sungu, Nyando politician Charles Aguko. Other rumors making the round to the effect that the Minister for Medical Services Prof. Anyang’Nyong’o is contemplating the possibility of switching from his current Kisumu Rural Parliamentary seat to the Senate. However, this rumor could not be confirmed.
In the position of covenanted County governor, several names have been floated as the possible contestants. They include that of Walter Kitoto Adel, a Kisumu businessman and a former trade unionist. Eric Opon Nyamunga, the immediate former Nyando Mp and at one time the managing director of the Kenya Railways Corporation, Ojuwang K’Ombudo the former Minister for Regional Development, and two times Nyakach MP.
K’Ombudo who is credited for having been the most efficient and long serving Kisumu Town Clerk is said to be a man equipped with administrative prowess, which is unmatched.
Another name which has hit the ground on the position of governor is that of a professional accountant Fred Otieno Wagah from Kano Kobura, who is working and living in the Unite States. Wagah is said to be a down to earth young man who could turn the County around if given chance. But he has yet to confirm if it is true he will be in the race. Also being menti9ned is the name of the Malindi Town Clerk Lumumba Ouya as the other possible aspirants for the position of governorship.
The County of Kisumu has the ready made tourist destination and sceneries, such as Dunga Beach. There are both the Yatch and Golf Clubs, which are located within a walking distant from the City’s Central Business District.
The City boost some of the ultra modern hotels of the tourist class, and many new medium size hotels that offers comfortable night accommodation to visitors. Other tourist attractions include Ndere Island which is housing close to 100 herds of Impala. A wildlife sanctuary is located within the city, which houses buffaloes, lions, leopard, hyenas and impalas.
Other center of attraction for visitors include the Kit-Mikaye famous rock in Seme, which is located only a few meters beside the main Kisumu Bondo highway and a distant of twenty minute drive.
The City is served by four highways, namely Kisumu-Ahero-Kericho road,Kisumu-Kakamega road, Kisumu Bondo road and Kisumu Busia road.
The water transport is also available in small motor boats, steamer and ships for both transportation of cargoes and passenger to any destination within the three countries of Kenya,Tanzania and Uganda that jointly owned Lake Victoria..
In the Port, the Kisumu Pier, though poorly maintained at the moment by the ailing Rift Valley Railways is still serving the landlocked nation in East and central African regions such as Uganda, northwestern Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Eastern DR Congo, and Southern Sudan and beyond.
All these facilities could be improved tremendously if the right people, are put on the County of Kisumu governance and these are some of the reasons why the residents are calling upon perennial election losers and other politicians to keep off the County affairs.
Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
KENYA AND TANZANIA IN JOINT WILDLIFE CENSUS ON LARGE HERBIVOROUS ANIMALS TO DETERMINED THE NUMBER OF BIG GAMES IN THEIR RESPECTIVENATIONAL PARKS.
Writes Leo Odera Omolo.
DESPITE their divergent opinion about the future of ivory trade, Kenya and Tanzania have come together for a joint aerial wildlife census.
The cross border count will assess the impact of last year’s prolonged drought in the greater Amboseli ecosystem, besides generating information that will be used to plan and streamline management of parks in the two countries.
The census exercise brought together 50 officials, from the pilot and Geographic Information System {GIS} experts, to data entry clerks and technical observers. Kenya funded it to the tune of USD 42,763.
Kenya Wildlife Service monitoring and biodiversity information manager, Erustus Kanga told newsmen that the operation targeted large herbivorous mammals, from the size of gazelles and above, including elephants, elands, giraffes and buffaloes.
The team crisscrossed the Amboseli ecosystem that spans 6,000 square kilometers, including the Amboseli National Park and the surrounding community ranches, Nguruman-Magadi as well as the West Kilimanjaro region up to Lake Natron in Tanzania.
Amboseli is among the areas that have been hard hit by prolonged drought over the past two years, leading to massive deaths of zebra, wildebeest, elephant, buffaloes as well as livestock from the local communities.
The census come barely a fortnight to the decisive Doha meeting, where the two countries are expected to face off as a decision is made by parties in the Convention Trade on Endangered Species {Sites} on whether to allow Ivory trade or not.
Tanzania and Zambia have applied to be allowed to sell off their ivory stocks, a development that Kenya is vehemently opposed to.
Among the sticking points in the row are complaints by Kenya authorities that they were not consulted by their neighbors before they made the bid.
Mr Kanga insisted that the difference between the different opinions did not affect relations between wildlife managers from the two countries during the operation.
During the operation, the two countries established co-operational bases on either sides of the common border.
While KWS, which partnered with African Wildlife Foundation and Amboseli National park, the Tanzania National Parks operated from Kilimanjaro National Park.
This is the first time that the two countries are collaborating on the census.
Ends
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EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY MEMBER STATES TO ADOPT ONE SINGLE ENTRY VISA TO THEIR NATIONAL GAME PARKS.
Reports Leo Odera Omolo
Residents of the East African Community {EAC] will be required to pay the same fees as Tanzanians to enter the country’s national parks.
A note recently sent to game park managers by Tanzania National Parks Authority spokesman, Pascal Shelutete, reads as follows; ‘This is to inform you that nationals of Rwanda and Burundi are to be charged preferential rates just like those of Kenya and Uganda.
“Thus arrangement is in line with the EAC plans to promote the region as a single tourism destination,” adds the note.
This mean EAC residents will now pay Tshs 1,500 [about USD 1 for adults]and Tshs 500 { about 35 cents USD} for children visiting any national parks in Tanzania per day.
Analysts believe the uniform directive is timely and will boost the industry in the EAC Common Market with nearly 130 million consumers and combined GDP of nearly USD 60 billion.
In 2006, each of the three founding EAC partner states of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda were charging different figures for non-citizen tourists. In Uganda, the entrance fees for EAC citizens to any of the country’s national game parks was USD 10 per day, while Ugandans were charged Ushs 5,000 {about USD 2.5}.
In Tanzania, the entry fees to Mount Kilimanjaro and Serengeti for foreign tourists and EAC residents was USD 60 and USD 50 respectably. In Kenya, the average charge fee for non-citizens was set at USD 30 per adult and USD 19 per student or child per day.
At the same time, sources at the EAC secretariat in Arusha say a task force appointed to study the region’s preparedness for a single tourist visa will present its report in June this year.
“The partner states are still consulting on the matter with the possibility of a trial visa to be introduced first, as they try to harmonize their tourism policies and laws,” a source explained.
The secretariat is reported to have approached the partner states, seeking information from the immigration departments on visa regulations and statistics from major tourism market countries.
Sources added that there was a likelihood of starting with a trial single visa in June this year, to determine whether East Africa is ready to introduce a single tourist visa for the region.
Experts working on the matter want visitor’s statistics for the sample countries that will participate in the suggested trial visa before the actual document is introduced.
The major source market for tourists coming to East Africa are the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa and Scandinavian countries.
Also sought for is information on information and communication technology {ICT} system used by the partner states to network with various centers such as border points and embassies.
In recent past, tourism players based in Arusha were said to have faulted the EAC governments for delaying the single visa tourism entry visa for the region.
Tourists visiting the region often spend hours crossing from one EAC state to another because they use different visa for each country.
Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
By Dickens Wasonga.
The Nyanza provincial commissioner, Mr. Francis Mutie has appealed to the media to assist in rebuilding the badly tattered image of the region, as the government scales up efforts to woe investors into the region.
The pc observed that the region has huge resources which only needed to be fully exploited to empower the local residents to grow economically, and added that “positive publicity would really help to redeem Nyanza’s worn out image”.
The pc asked the media in the area to take a leading role to market the region agressively by highliting the potential the province has in terms of economic growth and help attract investors.
The senior administrator pointed out that alot of development activities was going on in a number of sectors of the economy, but the activities were not getting the focus of the media, like other issues that only potray the province negatively.
“The trend now is where all that we read and watch in the media is only violence related. Other negative happenings need to be discouraged. I am not trying to gag the press, but all I am asking them is to also appreciate the good things that our province has to offer”, said the pc.
Mutie also appealed to the journalists in the area to realise that they were part of the communities within which they work, adding that they needed to practice responsible journalism that promotes development, and discard sensational reporting of issues.
The pc said with the expansion works at the ksh.3b Kisumu international airport is nearing its completion, and through aggresive marketing of the western Kenya tourism circuit, the region will soon be turned into the economic hub of the entire east African region, and alot of ground work must therefore begin ahead of the expected growth.
Nyanza, which has been associated for along time with opposition politics since the times of the late doyen of opposition politics in Kenya, Jaromogi Oginga Odinga, remains one of the regions in the country which are least developed, with poverty reaching worrying levels.
The region has also been associated with high prevalence rates of various diseases, the most talked about one being HIV/AIDS.
Acts of violence have also dominated news from the region in the past, thereby potraying residents of the province as intolerant and arrogant.
These issues have turned away many would be investors from the region, making it lag behind in terms of development, for several years.
Cash crops, such as cotton, sugarcane and even maize were known to do well in the area some years ago. Things have since changed for the worst, but agricultural experts still believe that with a renewed government involvement, and farmers emporwerment, the crops can still offer a solution to the current food insufficiency facing the locals.
ENDS.
THE CONSTRUCTION OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA COMMUNTY CENTER AT NYANG’OMA KOGELO TO COMMENCE BEFORE THE OF THIS YEAR.
Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City
Kenya’s Ministry of National Heritage has announced that the construction of the multi-million shilling, President Barack Obama Kogelo Community Center, will commence before the of this year.
In a message read on his behalf to the participants at the President Barack Obama first anniversary cultural festival, held over the weekend, at Alego Nyang’oma Kogelo, the Minister for National Heritage, William Ole Ntimama said the area is the home of the father of the US President, and the area has emerged a major tourist destination, making it necessary to develop the cultural centre in place.
The minister said development of Kogelo Cultural Centre is in line with Kenya’s Vision 2030 development blueprint, which endeavors to make the country one of the top 10 long haul tourist destination in the world.
“Currently”, the Minister said, “North America has emerged as a leading tourist source market for Kenya, accounting for about 10 per cent total arrivals, only second to the United Kingdom”, the Minister added.
The speech was read before a huge crowd that attended this year’s cultural festivals at the Senator Barack Obama Kogelo Primary School, which is an area adjacent to Senator Barack Obama Secondary School, during the celebrations, to mark President Obama first year in office
“Kenya”, the Minister said, “is a rich, diverse cultural heritage, and the ministry has a major role to play in fostering appreciation and development of cultural heritage for the benefit of the Kenyan people”.
The closure of the four day festival was graced by the US ambassador to Kenya, Michael Rennerberger, who was accompanied by Mama Sarah Obama, the step grand mother of President Obama and other family members.
Kenya’s Prime Minister, Raila Oodinga who was expected to attend the function did not show up, as he was reported to have travelled to the Far East, on official government duties.
A visit to the nearby Nyang’oma market, the usually dusty rural market place, revealed that the area has undergone a facelift. Small kiosks and food stalls have been turned into permanent buildings, and more are under construction. The local business community were optimistic of a booming business in the near future, so they are trying hard to ensure that they will be able to tap the resources to be availed by the expected tourists from the US and other developed nations of the world.
There were all signs of booming business at Nyang’oma market. The murrum road that branches off from Ndori Market in Rarieda, heading northwards to Nyang’oma, across River Yala, has been graveled to an all whether road. Plans are also said to be a foot to have this portion tarmacked before the end of the year. Other plans are also a foot for the establishment of a tourist class Hotel along River Yala, and the project is being undertaken by the Kenya Tourist Board.
ENDS
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
AN AMERICAN TOURIST AND HER TEENAGE DAUGHTER ARE TRAMPLED TO DEATH BY A ROGUE ELEPHANT AS THEY STROLLED AROUND WITH OTHERS IN MT. KENYA FOREST.
Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City
AN American tourist and her teenage daughter were on Tuesday this week trampled to death by a rogue elephant inside the Mount Kenya forest.
The tourist, only identified by police as Ms S. Brown 39, and her daughter, died on the spot when the beast attacked them as they strolled in the forest in the company of others.
Four other tourists, including Ms Brown’s husband, Mr Henry Brown, escaped unhurt and ran to safety during the mid-morning savage attack by the animal.
Mr Brown is reported to be a teacher at the International School in Kenya, based in Nairobi, while his family is living in the US and are said to have come to the country on a Christmas vacation.
The tourists were reportedly attacked from behind as they strolled in the company of a tourist guide employed by the Castle Lodge, where the group were staying.
Te group was on holiday, and were booked as guests at the Castle Lodge, in Kimunya area, of Kirinyaga district, a popular tourists resort located close to the slopes of Mt Kenya.
The owner of the lodge, Ms Melin Van Laar, described it as an ugly accident, saying the victims were among the several guests at the Lodge at the time of the incident.
“This is just an accident like any other. The elephant made a surprise attack from behind the tourist as they walked around on a sight seeing, and attacked the victims.”
Ms Laar said it was a tragedy for the teacher to lose both his wife and daughter while on a visit to the Lodge.
Following the attack, she said, the management of the hotel immediately contacted the Kenya Wildlife Services forest rangers, who rushed to the scene. They found the badly mutilated bodies of the two lying a few meters from each other. The rangers collected the bodies, which were immediately flown to Nairobi for preservation at a funeral home. The two bodies will later be flown back home in the US for burial.
Following the savage attack on the two visitors by the rogue elephant, Ms Laar said the hotel management was planning to boost security around the Lodge to avoid similar incidents in the future. It will be consulting the KWS to explore the possibilities of providing the tourist guides with guns, or to see how the tourists could be accompanied by armed KWS forest rangers while visiting the forest.
A hotel worker, Mr Anthony Njeru, narrated to the press how those who escaped unhurt returned to the hotel, minus the two, and broke the sad news to the management.
Elephant usually don’t attack people, but in the event where there is a solitary bull who is evicted by another bull in scrambling for territorial and family control, the docile animal can became dangerous. An elephant is one of the most intelligence wild animal after the leopard.
Close to ten people have been killed by elephants in Kenya in separate incident in the whole of the year 2009, but the country also lost many herds of elephants as the result of the recent prolonged drought and lack of green pasture.
Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
TOURISM IS A DECLINING TRADE IN TANZANIA DESPITE ABUNDANCE FACILITIES AND ATTRACTION SCENERY.
Business News By Leo Odera Omolo
TANZANIA is reported to be seriously concerned with the rapidly declining trend over non-arrival of visitors, especially the tourist from Western European countries and the US.
Reports emerging from Dar Es Salaam say non-arrival of visitors and tourists has put that country in a state of financial alertness, as the country has always relied heavily on tourism for its foreign exchange. The country has plenty of tourist attraction scenery plus abundance facilities, much fewer visitors came this year.
Government sources in both political capital of Dodoma in the Central region and the commercial capital of Dar Es Salaam indicate that tourist arrival in the country declined by 10 per cent in the first ten months of 2009, to reach 576,663 down from 641,951 in 2008.
These reports are backed by the UN World Tourist Organization 2009 report entitled “World Tourist Barometer”, which projects the negative trend in international tourism emerged in the second half of 2008 and at the same time sustained in 2009, due to the global economic downturn and swine flu pandemics.
According to a report recently published by the organization, international tourism dropped by 8 per cent from 269 million in 2008 to 247 million in 2009. The report also speculates that the declining trend will carry on up the year 2010.
However, Ibrahim Musa, who is an assistant director of research, training and statistics at the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, was last week quoted by the influential weekly, the EASTAFRICAN as saying that the effect of the global crunch has not badly wounded the country.
This is so despite statistics showing declining figures with exception of the month of July, which recorded 79,171 visitors compared to 77,775 visitors in 2008.
The trend is replicated in Zanzibar where the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism has reported only 81,988 tourists arrivals against a projected figure of 150,000 in 2009.
It is possible that Zanzibar will not salvage the situation that has badly affected the economy because peak period are fast elapsing.
Mr Julius Bishop, the director of Zanzibar Association of Tourism investors, is however optimistic about the country recovery from the crisis.
Tanzania earned USD 1.2 million from tourism activities in 2008, while Zanzibar received USD 1.6 million, which is a 3.1 percent decline from the figure that was recorded in 2007.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, the average length of stay for foreign visitors in Tanzania mainland was nine nights as compared to 10 in Zanzibar, which earned the country USD 299 per visitor per day.
Tanzania is now intensifying efforts to revamp domestic tourism, which grew by 19.3 percent to reach 639,749 in 2009 compared to 2008.
The Northern Tanzanian region of Arusha offer spectacular tourist attraction, with its abundant wild life at the world famous Serengeti National Game Park, Lake Manyara , both Mount Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru scenery, and other centers of tourist attraction, with several well kept and well stocked lodges and camps.
Ends
Leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
KARACHUONYO CONSTITUENCY POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY AND ITS POTENTIALITY AS A TOURIST DESTINATION IN THE FUTURE.
Second Profile By Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City.
A political history of Karachuonyo constituency cannot be complete and comprehensive without mentioning one of Luo political giants of yester-years and a fallen hero.
This is the legendary Daniel Ojijo Oteko, who waged a war against the British Colonial rule in Kenya.
Ojijo Oteko died in suspicious and mysterious circumstances in 1944 at the peak of his active agitation against the country’s colonizers. His death arose suspicion that he was murdered by the British colonial masters.
At the time of his death, he had traveled to Kisumu. His mission, according to those privy to his story, was to have his nagging and painful teeth removed at the old Nyanza General Hospital. He was expected back home the same day. But this was never to be so. The great Ojijo Oteko was never to be seen alive again.
The information received by the family at home indicated that this great nationalist had died while in an operation theatre for the removal of one of his rotted teeth. The death raised eyebrows with the local people.
But what fueled most trouble and suspicion was the manner in which his dead body was handled by the Colonial Administration. It was brought back home under heavy police and soldiers guard. The coffin was completely sealed. Nobody was allowed to come close to the coffin. His wailing wife and relatives were kept at bay, at a safe distance by the soldiers, who had cocked their guns at the ready, to deal with anyone moving close to the graveside.
Up to this day, no one could tell whether the casket containing the remains of the late Daniel Ojijo Oteko was entered into his grace, which was later well cemented, with a concrete cross and inscription of his names, next to Wagwe-Pala road. And it was no surprise that some mischievous thugs recently dug out the body and stole it.
The rumors making the round at the time, was that Daniel Ojijo Oteko was injected with drugs that induced death by sleep, and that his head was separated from the rest of his body and sent to the UK, in similar fashion as the colonialists had done with the great Nandi Orkoyiot {Laibon} koitalel Arap Samoei in 1905, after he was lured into a fake reconciliation meeting and shot dead by a white officer.
Daniel Ojijo Oteko served the colonialists as a telegraphic officer at Maseno. There he linked up with early Luo nationalists like John Paul Olola, Barrack Owuor, Nathan Ojungo Otumba, Nyamunga Gor and others, and formed what was first known as Kavirondo Taxpayers Association around 1922, and became its Secretary General in 1926. The Association became popular by the name “Piny Owacho”, which loosely translates as “The Country has said”.
The Association is reputed to have established the link with the much more radical and aggressive Kikuyu Central Association{KCA}, led by the late Hurry Thuku.
Ojijo left Maseno and settled in his native rural home at Kanjira in West Karachuonyo. His leadership quality was quickly realized by the local population who elected him to the African Local Native Council {ALNC}.
The visit to Karachuonyo by the KCA leaders from Central Province made Daniel Ojijo Oteko a marked man under security surveillance for twenty four hours. On one occasion, as the story goes, and this happened at the peak of the Second World War, Ojijo Oteko was walking towards his home. On the way, somewhere near Wagwe Health Centre, he met with soldiers driving a large herd of cattle, which were seized from their owners at gun-point.
The soldiers were under the command of a white officer in the rank of a District Officer, a Mr Morgan Walker from the Kisii D.C’s Office. Ojijo Oteko inquired about where the animals were being taken to, and was told that the animals were destined for Kisii, and would eventuality be slaughtered, and the beef taken for feeding the African soldiers fighting alongside the British and allied forces, fighting against Adolf Hitler’s German forces.
Ojijo Oteko engaged the DO in classic queens English, telling the white officer how Karachuonyo community had contributed hundreds of young soldiers to the KAR, and as such cannot part with their animals. He ordered the animals be returned to their rightful owners.
The heated argument alarmed the soldiers, who were armed with guns. They got scared, and sensing the danger of possible rioting by the natives, the white officer concurred with Ojjo Oteko, and released the animals back to their rightful owners. This was the turning point in the life of the late Ojijo Oteko, as the colonialists, working in cohort with their local chiefs and collaborators, increased their surveillance on him wherever he went.
This particular incident also earned him a nick name “Ojijo polo Mor Yimbo”, which loosely translates {Ojijo the thunderstorm is roaring in the west}.
A year later, he was pronounced dead and buried secretly under heavy armed guards.
Karachuonyo Tourism potential
Karachuonyo is an area which is potentially important as a tourist destination in Western Kenya. It is a place, which is filled with pre-historic scenarios, like the volcanic lake “Simbi Nyaima”, the crocodile shaped rock which is located on the hill top near Kadel in Kibiri area, the hot spring which produces Bala mineral salt for animal feed on the eastern slopes of Huma-Hill. The hill has many folklore and folk tales. The Kipsigis community calls it “Tiluet ab Kumiyat” loosely translates {The Hill of Honey}.
Simbi Nyaima lake is the seasonal home of the ever migrating flamingos from other places like Lake Nakuru, Lake Baringo, Lake Natron and other lakes in the Rift Valley. The bird sojourns the lake once every year and then flies out. Deep and strikingly smelling, lake Simbi Nyaima is not suitable for swimming, as it is said to be the deepest, and has some internal connection with Lake Victoria, although its waters are salty.
The geological story of Simbi Nyaima differs sharply with the tales of the local communities. The volcanic lake is as old as six centuries. It came about as a result of tremor or earthquake accompanied by volcanic eruption, perhaps in 1680, according to geologists and technical experts.
But according to the local community, Simbi Nyaima was a curse and bad omen brought upon a community which was greedy and full of arrogance.
It is said that an ugly and starving woman had visited the village at Kolonde, near Lake Simbi Nyaima, and asked to be given shelter and food. She came when the villagers were busy feasting on native alcohol {beer} in a homestead, and animals were also slaughtered.
On seeing the dirty and ugly woman, the villagers sent her away. Her attempt to get food was thwarted by the work of several able bodied men, who gave her escort out of the beer hall and homestead.
The dirty, ugly woman took shelter in the next homestead, where she found a young woman with her four children. This particular woman gave her food, and after she had warmed herself around the fire place, the ugly woman asked the woman if she was married. She replied in the affirmative, and the ugly woman instructed her to go to the beer hall and call her husband.
The young woman did that, but when she told her husband that it was the ugly woman the group had expelled from the beer hall who was calling him, the husband slapped his wife and sent her parking.
She went back to her children and narrated the incident to the ugly old woman. The ugly woman, in turn asked the woman to collect all her children and that they should leave the home as quickly as they could.
They did this, and no sooner had they stepped out of the village than followed a heavy downpour, accompanied by lightening. It rained continuously for twenty four hours, and the whole village was flooded, and the people at the beer party all got drowned in the water. The people and their domesticated animals perished.
And that is the genetics of the lake “Simbi”. The events happened during the time when the inhabitants of the area were the Luo sub-clan called Jo-Waswa, who were the earliest inhabitants of what is today called Karachuonyo. They were followed immediately by Jo-Wagwe, Jo-Kagan and others, with jo-Karachuonyo, the largest group, arriving much later, followed by the Jo-Kano groups.
The Jo-Waswa are today scattered all over Luo-Nyanza, and the bulk of them live in the North Mara or Tarime district in Tanzania. Few of them are also scattered amongst the Jo-Kano sub-clans.
The Kendu-Bay Pier, which was built by the defunct East African Railways and harbors in the early 1930s could be used as a jetty for both motorized boats and steamers as well as big ships. And even for water sporting purposes. It used to be the place for calling steamers and lighters, which were ferrying grains from Southern Nyanza for storage by the NCPB in Kisumu. But for close to two decades, what used to be one of the busiest piers in Lake Victoria is now idle.
There is plenty of scenery for birds watching. What is required is the implementation of the forty year old sleeping Western Kenya Tourist Circuit, which was formulated as a tourist attraction policy in 1966, but which has never been put into effective use.
Another industry, which has yet to be fully exploited is the doormats making processes around Otok, Kiltal and other places in Central and East Karachuonyo.
As for communications, these important roads need to be upgraded to be all weather:
(1)The road leading from Kendu-Bay Kanyadhiang’ Bridge to Pala in West.
(2)The road crossing the West from Pala via Gogo back to the main Homa-Bay Kendu Bay road at Kandiege.
(3)The Oyugis Kendu-Bay road via Kosele.
(4)Gendia Mawego-Kadongo road.
(5)Mawego-Rakwaro and Mawego Sino-Kagolla-Sikri road.
(6)Mawego-Kadongo as well as Mawego-Rakwaro.
(7)Mawego-Kokwanyo-Sikri and back to the main Kidumu –Oyugis Kisii road.
(8)Another important link is the Kadiedo-Omboga-Karabok road and so many other small feeder rand access roads.
Ends
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