Mix of people living in harmony

Consolatta Adhiambo and her husband Samuel Ong’weno at work in Paundege, Kadem in Migori County. Photo by STEPHEN MUDIARI | NATION 

By MARK AGUTU and ELISHA OTIENO
Posted Wednesday, March 9 2011 at 17:00

In Summary

• Some Kuria leaders led by area MP Wilfred Machage, opposed their own inclusion in Migori, claiming they would be marginalised 

From its lush, expansive sugar cane plantations, to the rocky terrain laden with gold deposits and fish-rich shores of Lake Victoria, Migori is a county whose huge economic potential grows from diversity.

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And that same diversity characterises its population, being one of the few counties that is home to different communities.

The Kuria, Luo, Luhya, Kisii, Somali and a sprinkling of Tanzanians live happily together, their work forming the foundation for its booming economy.

The expansive county includes Migori, Nyatike, Rongo, Uriri and Kuria constituencies and has an estimated population of just over one million people.

The Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission has already created three additional constituencies in the region — splitting Migori constituency into two (Migori West and Migori East), hiving off Kuria West and East from the larger Kuria constituency and creating Awendo constituency from Rongo.

Borders Homa Bay

Migori borders Homa Bay, Trans Mara and Kisii counties and, of course, Tanzania.

Besides sugar cane farming and gold mining, people also farm tobacco and go fishing plus a host of other commercial enterprises in the bustling towns of Migori, Isebania, Awendo, Kehancha, Rongo, Sori and Muhuru Bay.

Add to this the fact that Migori also sits on the Kenya-Tanzania border and you have a county that is well-positioned to glean more benefits from the booming cross-border trade.

It is this huge economic potential that observers and leaders say would drive development in Migori County when devolution finally takes off.

But they agree that the county’s new leadership should be focused on effective management of resources for the benefit of the residents, and not just play politics.

Even though there are cultural differences between members of the Luo, Kuria and Luhya communities, all have been living in harmony.

The Luhya are mainly found in Bware and Stella villages of Uriri constituency.

Nyatike MP Edick Anyanga views the close proximity of the county to Tanzania as a potential springboard to faster socio-economic development of the region.

“We will definitely benefit more from the East African Community free market protocol than other counties.

“We are better placed to transform the county within a very short period because of the available resources and intensive trade at the border,” he said.

The chairman of the Migori Muslim Development Committee, Mr Ebrahim Omar Hussein, said Muslims were eager to coexist with their neighbours in the new administrative unit.

At the height of the referendum campaigns, some Kuria leaders led by their area MP, Dr Wilfred Machage, opposed their own inclusion in Migori.

They argued they would be marginalised in terms of leadership slots and resource allocation and demanded that they be given their own county.

Although some Kuria residents opposed this view, the MP stuck to his guns and later teamed up with Eldoret North MP William Ruto in a vain attempt to shoot down the new Constitution.

But with the referendum behind them, Kuria residents have embraced the county and are staking their claim in Migori County and its leadership.

Kuria leaders and professionals have since embarked on a strategy aimed at engaging the other communities in the county in a bid to ensure equitable allocation of leadership positions.

At a meeting held in Kehancha Town and chaired by Dr Machage, a team of 12 people was nominated to spearhead the talks.

While appreciating the demographic dynamism of the county, Prime Minister Raila Odinga reached out to the Kuria soon after the referendum and urged them to live harmoniously with their Luo neighbours.

The PM said  their rights to equal access to resources would not be undermined.

Kuria is the biggest producer of maize and tobacco in the region. The National Cereals and Produce Board have four big maize silos while tobacco companies have bases to buy leaf from the farmers.

The residents also rear cattle in large numbers and this has been the cause of conflict with their Maasai neighbours in Trans Mara, caused by cases of cattle rustling.

On the education front, Migori is home to leading secondary schools in Nyanza — Kanga and St Joseph Rapogi — where some prominent Kenyans studied.