Of Industrilisation and Transport

The town council, which collected little revenue, is proud of its industrial stage"

Matatu picking passengers from the new Bus Park. Photo by author.

Imagine a town as small as kericho with proper transport infrastructures, or with much better, with a ready design to build airport. Add the plan to build bus stop at all the strategic points.

Imagine no more. Kericho has enforced that all matatus pick passenger from a selected carpark –a newly constructed taxi park, west of kericho. It serves up to three hundred vehicles per day, serving all routes –Bomet, Nakuru, Kisumu, Kisii, Eldoret and within Kericho County.

A central passenger collection point has made it easier for the county government to collect revenue. A van pays the taxi park fee, payable to the town council, which funds the taxi park, in order for a matatu to collect passengers from Kericho.

Although, it does not fit Buses, which pick passengers from their outside-car park offices, it is the most organized car park in the south rift –making kericho the hub of the south rift. Buses, however, carry more passengers and yet they are not strategically stationed to pay their dues.

Before now, vans could collect passengers from any point in town. It caused traffic congestion, slowing transport, attracting hatred from the tea industries who value time –tea leaves must be processed while fresh. The town council, which once collected little revenue, is proud of its industrial stage.

The town council does not have post-alighting services. In case a van carried a sick passenger, it must first go to the stage, leaving the hospital two kilomitres back. And all the passengers, despite reasons to stop at a point, cannot stop before the only car park. But it pays special attention to the disable. Hellen, a crippled lady, is carried to the point where she sells vegetable –Tuskies. The able passenger cannot be exempted by the regulation.

Taxis are fined heavily –Ksh 5000 for a matatu offender –if they violate transport regulation. So the driver must not heed the passenger, who should be treated with etiquette he deserves, to stop because the regulation affects only the van. The logic is: it is the driver who is responsible for breaking the law. Even when the matatu company offers door to door services, it must follow the new regulation.

Since August, the business owners have felt the new legislation. Ng’ororga enterprise, which is located at the taxi park, is booming as a result of the transport rules. “The passengers were made to take vans from here, grouping them to buy at one point,” said a sells lady.

A once filling and matatu park station –jumbo filling station, is now receiving few customers following new town legislation. It served sondu, Litei, Eldoret and Roret routes. It worked simple: you pick passengers as you filled fuel from it. It charged no parking fee. It was, however, a loss to town council and benefit to the filling station.

With small parking lot, Tuskies supermarket lost its customer who were dropped and picked from its doorstep by the matautus. It now befits persons with cars only. Customers on foot prefer to shop at Stagematt supermarket because it is near the taxi park.

Kericho town has more than four strategic points where bus stops could be located: Ndege chai to serve the tea estates, the hospitals and town services, main bus stop to serve long distance routes, Uchumi poin to serves north, and jumbo to serve southern routes.

Brick Cottage Industry Boom

Bricklaying brings in up to Ksh 5 million in a year. Since its inception in 2004, the ward has got a different image

Bricks Baking in a kiln

Young men and women in Sigowet brick cottage industry faces unnecessary challenges where they should be safest –in Kona plains.

Brick-laying, which employs quite a number of youths, is the hardest of menial jobs that involves cutting and carrying sharp papyrus reeds, loading –throwing bricks through a line of up to five people –to a lorry, and watching the ovens overnight in the cold. In the last ten years, when the industry boomed, it has expanded from Kona to other clay rich deposits.

Youths, school dropouts and married, with no other source of income, indulge their passion for bricklaying. With 5sqm of clay field, one requires a molding block and a hoe to start production.

Bricklaying bring in up to Ksh. 5 million in a year. Since its inception in 2004, the ward has got a different image: a rise in iron-roofed and brick houses and double increase in number of dairy cows. Every year, however, up to 100 youths, some of whom finance their education, are employed.

The seasons dictate the industry so that the production is high during the dry season and low during the rainy season. The production is inclined to seasons change because of its infrastructure: traditional kilns fueled by wood and poor storage –stacks of bricks covered with papyrus reeds.

Kona plains, wetlands covering a third of Sigowet ward, do not support farming. Rice growing would be the alternative if the soil retains water. Brick-laying, the easiest option –it requires little capital than other enterprise activities, is a must economic activity for the populace.

The living standard is improving: children can go to school and there is enough profit to plough back to the business. The enterprises, however, faces a difficulty –transport. There are no dry roads to the wetlands. Donkeys are the only means of transport supporting the industry.

The products of Sigowet brick industry is of low quality –just mixture of water, which is ferried by donkeys, and clay. It also fetches low market prices –five shillings per block. The cost of producing twenty thousand bricks, which are deemed enough to harden in a traditional kiln, is very high.

In every election, Sigowet brick cottage industry is a theme for politicians. It attracts attention because it can employ many youths more than any other cottage industry. The promises –installation of the solar or electric kiln, and construction of a murram road, which if put to practice would help the people, are said for the sake of securing a public seat.

The youths have resorted to form groups in order to secure funds. The microfinance –Kericho County Youth SACCO, has helped them to their feet. But the loans hardly cover the medical insurance for accidents –cut off toes, swollen feet and chest problems as a result of dust.

Kericho Car Washing Enterprise: A Need for Value Addition

"There are interests. Some want to encroach while some want to conserve. I bet: may the most interested be conservationists"

Youth Washing motorbike in Kericho Wetlands

Kericho county waste management is dire –car washing in the water, sewage leaking, soil erosion, and bathing in the water . The entire town’s waste: oil, plastic, market waste, is channeled to Kericho swamp which functions as business enterprise –car wash, laundry point –bathing site, water supply, farming –cattle grazing, fishing, cultural site –baptism and circumcision.

The swamp is turning against people: it is polluted. Its water is dirty of the direct discharge of sewage, and oil from the car wash. The swamp is bare, or at times with eucalyptus, an unfriendly species in the water fountain. The inhabitants do not care about the wetland.

Apart from the women who draw water from the swamp, there are other stakeholders –Finlays, Sanik, KEWASCO, Ministry of Agriculture etcetera. The stakeholders benefit from the wetland but do not care to improve.

In early 2012, NEMA, smiling of draft legislation for wetland, started wetland management plan –Tienosoyiet project. It is meant to start practical intervention to water pollution and solid waste management, and promote catchment management.

Kericho Wetlands

To benefit from the wetland, some things must be added value –Kericho Car washing enterprise facility that separates oil from water before releasing to the rivers be the alternative before displacing car washers. At times, leadership hint about chasing youths from washing in the river bank.

Forums are held to address the impending calamity. Everyone involved use the prelude: “we need to…” phrase, denoting lack of plans for the wetlands. There are interests. Some want to encroach while some want to conserve. I bet: may the most interested be conservationists.

Youth enterprises want to correct the mess. But they lack resources. There are some leaders who would want to lend a hand, but bureaucracy. The earth is not yet angry with man; it means there is a chance to change when youths are still youths and when interest is still interest.

Car washing is a good business when carried out in a car wash facility. People, birds, animals, who balance the nature, will get clean water when everyone takes the responsibility to care for the wetland.

Emet proposal

Emet proposes marketing of the gift of the Kipsigis –food, scene, clothes, artifacts, relics, events etcetera. In so doing, Kipsigis build its identity in the world. The way we live, though we cannot tell, when looked at from outside, Kipsigis is an interesting life.

Let’s build online exhibition. On it, we post pictures of artifacts –Sotet , Kisyet, Head Gears, Toropchot, Maragut, Kiragut, Saina; scene –Tulwap Kipsigis, Chebulu, Kapchain, Asururyet; events –Tumndo, Toror, Kechare Teta; food –Kimnyetab Kipsigis; people –Athletes, Mugenik, Kichamba, Koitalel, Towet, clothes –mungenik; healing waters, and other things that defines our identity.

This exhibition will create curiosity among the outside world. And they will want to come. When we offer it for free, we demonstrate our hospitality, itself an element of people’s identity. Borrowing from the facebook that offer free accounts and pages but its annual income is more than that of the GDP of countries in the sub-Sahara combined, we give this for free.

Pyramid is Egypt, and – (dash) is Kipsigis. Which architecture is Kipsigis’? A grass thatched houses is synonymous with poverty. And that is the iconic structure –simple and recognizable. What Kipsigis should do is ADD QUALITY to clothes, such as animal skin to a great fashion, food, scenes etc for others to love.

When all is done, what is the benefit? Not only build identity, but also attract tourist. The website will that lead curious to Kapkatet museum and others museums that will be created by then. When we take our mobile phone and take picture of the gift of the kipsigis, we are building a forum –a communal page. Our visit to the page affirms who we are –the kipsigis.

Toward the vision, Emet Post give insight into the news of the land. The mainstream journalism looks at the Kisyet as the unworthy story. Look at the story of pumpkin: when all is over it is the only trace of settlement –that a people dwelled in the Emet. When all the food is finished, pumpkin, which does follow season and need not constant caring, is the last to finish.

Uwezo Funds, Youth Enterprise Development Funds And 30% Government Procurement Preference for Youth: A Possibility for Self-Employment.

Uwezo funds widen the access to finance for any start-up. It gives out grants, but also to encourage saving, it also gives out credit.

Ambitious Jua kali artist, bricklayer or mama mboga can employ themselves fully in their profession. Thanks for Uwezo funds, youth funds and 30% government procurement preference for youth and women.
But there are areas that an ambitious person, before smiling for government help, ought not to disregard: cultivating a deep understanding of oneself -youth and women. Knowing strength and weakness, public relation and what values make great contribution is a requirement test before funding any start-up.
Taking a move from scratch, that is, secure for funds to add value to product of choice, a person should learn to manage himself. This is knowing how and when to change work –from brick moulding to e-marketing of bricks. At least, before applying for funds, a youth should understand where he belongs. How? Feedback analysis: after making a key decision, a youth should write down what he expects.
That said, in the world of finance, Uwezo funds widen the access to finance for any start-up. It gives out grants, but also to encourage saving, it also gives out credit. What makes Uwezo funds surpass youth enterprise development fund, which is about twelve times more, is not only its colourful launches and great speeches before and after march 4th , but also its political element –it’s is marketed well.
Uwezo, in spite of a long chain of command involved, has attracted youths to frequent CDF offices. Their interest is Uwezo fund. Youths do not inquire about youth enterprise fund or 30% government procurement preference for youth and women. They are willing to go through whatever procedure involved getting it. Why? Does Uwezo fund have low interest rates? Does it have long repayment periods? Or is it reward for Jubilee supporters? No.
Although Uwezo fund, meant to cover six years, is an alternative framework in funding, other sources, which may have more funds allocated in one year, be told to youths and women. Say, while awaiting Uwezo rules to be enacted, youths be asked to propose for the 76 billion Youth enterprise fund which is already on.
Uwezo fund, which is less than 6 billion after deducting something for every pen involved in the disbursement chain, less than 18 million after deducting something to reward political supporters in the constituency, and near zero repayment rate because it is issued in the same office as CDF, should be used only for capacity building to enable youths take advantage of government contracts worth more than 200billion every year.
Which is the proper way to make Uwezo fund glory for jubilee? Youth SACCOs. More than twenty five counties have set youth SACCOs. There are good systems, faster implementation, involved here than in a political office. Even the ambitious, star governor, who is it? Machakos governor can be send home by Uwezo fund. Is Uwezo funds a possibility or reality?

Chebulu, a Rainforest in Semi Arid Climate

"Chebulu became animal home by default; the surrounding niche is harsh –bare ground, hard wood, unpalatable vegetation for the wild game."

Standing proud at the edge of Sigowet is Chebulu picturesque, a scenery spared by the harsh sun. Chebulu, a mid a semi arid climate, covers the fountain of Kaplelartet stream.
Going down Kaplelartet, Sondu-Kisumu highway, you are attracted by a spectacle of alone green forest, the size of Sosiot trading centre, at the foot a stretching cliff.
A one hour ride from Sigowet takes visitors to the eye-catchy greenness that sprouts in rich soil, water trickle at the rock nourishing and changing the vegetation to that of a tropical forest.
The brilliant weather inspires local tourist and the scholars alike to take boda boda ride to the site. The serene geography is rich for curious young scholars for its topography, elements of rift valley, thriving tropical vegetation, and weathering rocks.
Although rugged, it is easy to get around. As you walk deeper, you discover it is also a wild home. Chebulu harbours antelopes, gazelles, monkeys and their kind. It became animal home by default; the surrounding niche is harsh –bare ground, hard wood, unpalatable vegetation for the wild game. The zone is sheltered from the human by the stretching cliff, standing sixty metres high.
The wider vegetation dubbed ‘vain greenness’, is a raised ground overlooking Nyabondo plateau that holds no water source. Down the valley, at the floor, Chebulu gets water to support the sky rocketing indigenous trees, and monkeys and their kind, giving it a different image consequently.
To leisure in Chebulu, you have to visit in dry season, preferably december, or early months of the year when animals barely walk the burning gravel outside the site. Thus animals leisure in the thick forest, around the water fall –they too find it ecstatic. The best is the southern side where the colony of monkeys basks on the rock combing hair. It is, however, unfavourable to rain when you are in the forest –sloppy ground, slippery stones, inclined to disagree with the rain.
Chebulu offers camp site.  You meet pathfinders and adventurous on December holiday. Its tranquility favours these lots who have activities best carried out away from the populace. Rock climbing is the unforgettable experience.
Touring Chebulu comes with a price. The gateway, a wall of a rock running down, is unimaginable to climb, and you get incredibly thirsty for meandering, often stopping to take photographs of the breathe taking scenes. You must climb down the wall, which is the recommended trail, to fetch the mineral water. From the look of things, Chebulu is cared by few hands. Though it is under the Kenya Wildlife, Tabaita Youth Group takes care of it. It put up a stairway, a bout sixty mitres down the cliff, and tapped its water springs.
Competing for the scenery are the encroachers who does it with vengeance. The once extensive landscape is reducing in size. Farming, hunting, and charcoal burning comprises the major threat to the Chebulu.
Owing to its wealth of wood, which the surrounding does not supply, charcoal burners salivate for it. The hoard of the indigenous wood appeals to other people differently: it becomes a source of money as opposed to source of ecstasy (especially by walking in the wood).
Despite the vain efforts of the encroachers, the hunters and the charcoal burners who have endangered the meagre population and driven the wild game into the sugar plantation; the names inscribed on the rock records the number of visitors who have visited Chebulu in the last century. Chebulu has held its position as the attraction site, the serene vegetation that calls for attention, and the glory of Sigowet.

Bricklaying: An enterprise without age bracket

"Children, below the age of twelve, who have no choice, repeat this for one hundred times to make enough money for lunch"

Bricks dried in the sun. Photo by author.

Poverty has made children in Sigowet to push themselves to bricklaying. In the last five years when the industry started, moulding of bricks, the hardest of the menial jobs is a must thing for living.

The economy hardly support begging, a likely option. Families, most of whom are young single parents, earning less than a hundred shillings a day, have their children working in bricklaying, tea picking and transporting water.

There is a vicious circle of problems. Children who work in bricklaying are the result of early pregnancy. Their parents are unable to feed and educate.

Koiwa, a boy of twelve years, started laying bricks at the age of nine. He is from alcoholic family. When his parents overstay at the local brewery, he fends for himself.

Because of poverty, children cannot go to school. Koiwa knows too well, “I cannot go to school. I don’t have school uniform. When I go, I don’t get food.” Koiwa opted to work in order to get the basic needs.

Tindo and Cheche come from poor families. Working hard to find food, their mothers who are still under their parents neglect the older children. Thus children make their tough choices.

It is hard to eat from bricklaying: dig out clay, mix with water and mould 3 by 5 inch of clay block. Children, below the age of twelve, who have no choice, repeat this for one hundred times to make enough money for lunch.

The industry exploits. Despite the age, a boy waits for two days for the clay block to dry in order to earn. In the process a third of the bricks are damaged by the weather or animals.

The income from the industry is not enough to save. A day’s income is all expended. Even if one works hard to save for their education, the budget does not go beyond food and clothing.

Bricklaying is a life of servitude; koiwa looks older than his actual age. Sometimes he works the whole day, “in the day I mould the bricks, and at night I watch over the oven.”

Because of the need of money, children have developed multiple personalities. They have easily turned to crime. Sometimes, Koiwa is used to steal. “I go at dawn to steal polythene from other people’s stacks of bricks for a fee,” says Koiwa.

The chief is burdened. School drop out is normal. The chief trys to force them to school, “but it is hard when I do not get support from parents.”

In spite of the free primary education, a percentage of parents have not been able to send their children to school. Because of poverty, however, school drop out is high.