• The sites have been abandoned, making little or no significance to the community
Image: FILE
There is no doubt that Taita Taveta county has one of the best momentous sites in Kenya. Running from the precolonial era, the sites carry rich and untold stories of past generations.
However, the sites have been abandoned, making little or no significance to the community. Despite their huge potential in attracting domestic and international tourists, little has been done to reap from them.
Taita Taveta Human Rights Watch chairman Haji Mwakio says the government should revamp the abandoned sites for economic growth.
“Very few people have knowledge about these important sites. Some are quite unique battlefields of WWI fought over 105 years ago,” he said.
If fully exploited, Mwakio says the sites have the potential to create hundreds of jobs to young, unemployed graduates in the region. He says the Taita Taveta community has been left to languish in poverty, despite being a victim of the global war.
“Introduction of battlefield tourism is a sure way of creating jobs. People need to learn about our rich culture,” he said.
In 2015, the National Museums of Kenya gazetted 15 sites in Taita Taveta county as sites of historical interest and significance.
They include Salaita Hill, Voi Commonwealth War Graves, Indian Commonwealth war graves, Kenyatta Caves in Wundanyi and First Old District Commissioners’ House in Taveta. Others are The German Fortress, Maktau Picket Hill, Indian military cemetery, Taveta ACK Holy Trinity Church; Mahoo and Mahoo Pastor’s Residence.
Among the 15, Salaita Hill, well-known for the 'Battle of Salaita Hill' stands out as the best epic site in the region. It is near this area where the first flight in East Africa was assembled and took off.
Additionally it was the first large-scale battlefield of the First World War, involving British, Indian, Rhodesian and South African troops.
Voi Commonwealth War Graves, located next to Voi police station, carries the same history.
According to a report by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Voi became a hospital centre for British soldiers early in 1916.
"In the period from August 1915 to December 1917, 100 burials were made in the cemetery and after the Armistice, a further 37 graves were brought in from Bura Military Cemetery (14 graves of the 2nd Loyal North Lancs, 29 September 1915), Maktau Military Cemetery (17 graves, largely September 3, 1915) and Tsavo Military Cemetery (six graves),” the report reads.
Economist Darius Mwambi advises the county government to formulate a cultural heritage policy that can help market the county's tourists attraction sites.
He says the county's cultural products should be preserved and marketed and their continuity ensured.