A five-minute ride with boda boda rider John Ouma on a three kilometre stretch between Kondele roundabout and the Lake Basin Mall on the Kisumu-Kakamega Highway summarised it all.
“We were not agreeing to ferry people here. This road was bad. It was literally a sewerage. Robbers were all over,” a jovial Ouma says.
He says the few riders who used the route charged at least Sh200 between 8am and 5pm.
“Today, we charge only Sh50 and we can come to this side as many times as possible because it is now safe. The road is smooth. Robbers are gone,” Ouma says.
He vividly recalls that in 2019, soon after the Handshake, President Uhuru Kenyatta visited the Kisumu Showgrounds with ODM leader Odinga.
The President used the impassable road – his vehicle almost got stuck in the sewage while the passable parts of the pathway were too dusty.
“That was when he ordered the construction of the road,” Ouma adds.
About 40km away, vegetable vendor Pamela Adhiambo is going about her business in Ahero town.
She is a victim of perennial flooding in Ahero and its environs. Every rainy season, she, her family and neighbours must either move to higher ground or lose their property.
But on the day we met her, happiness was written all over her face.
“We hear the President is coming to launch a dam to stop the flooding. I pray he comes. We are tired,"Adhiambo said as she cut sukuma wiki for a customer.
Adhiambo meant the planned construction of the Sh25 billion Koru-Soin dam.
The project was among the more than Sh250 billion ‘handshake goodies’ the President was scheduled to commission or launch in Kisumu and the entire former Nyanza province during his recent visit.
Others are the Sh3 billion revitalised Kisumu port, Sh599 million market complex, Sh476.69 million Marine School, Sh4.2 billion Lake Basin Mall and the Sh135 million East Africa Community Lake Victoria Basin Commission headquarters in Kisumu.
Others are the Sh2.4 billion Siaya-Bondo water and sanitation project, Sh1.47 billion Kodiaga-Wagai-Akala road, Sh9.46 billion Ahero-Kisii Road, Sh3 billion Isebania-Ikerege-Kehancha-Lorgorian road and theSh2.46 billion Mbita' Karungu road.
“In two months, I will come to break ground for the construction of the Koru-Soin dam to permanently end the perennial flooding in Nyando and environs.” Uhuru said.
The dam will hold the excess waters from River Nyando that have often flooded Ahero, Nyakach and Muhoroni whenever it rains.
Every year, residents are forced to flee their homes while those caught off guard lose their belongings, sometimes their lives, to the raging waters.
The dam will store excess water for irrigation and other uses during dry seasons.
While Ahero residents are waiting for godsend in 60 days, life has returned to the Kisumu port. Tens of youths were busy cleaning when we visited on Saturday.
“I have been working here for three months now. We just sweep the place and provide general cleanliness,” Collins Odayo says.
He is among the more than 200 manual workers contracted by the Kenya Ports Authority to clean the area, due to port revival.
For more than 20 years, the port was rundown and neglected by governments.
Ship engineer Peter Marare, 68, who was recalled from retirement to help revive the port knows the history of the port well.
“I think it was early 2000 when there was serious activity here,” he says.
Resuscitating the port was difficult. Hyacinth had invaded. There was no functional vessel. Some had sunk.
“But the President’s order was clear. ‘We must revive the port’. And so we had to work. We did it from 2019. Three months ago, for the first time, we transported fuel to Jinja in Uganda,” he says.
The President’s aim was to open up water transport, open business opportunities and connect Kenya to the East African countries.
But the port really came to life with refurbishment of the MV Uhuru by the Kenya Navy. The ferry wagon had stalled for 15 years.
KDF was given the task, especially the Kenya Navy. The estimated cost [of refurbishing the ferry] was Sh1 billion but we spent Sh200 million. Initially Kenya Railways wanted Sh2 billion for a new ferry,” Lt Col Sokobe, a Navy officer in charge of the works, says.
MV Uhuru, with 22 wagons, ferries about two million litres per trip. Since it was refurbished three months ago, it has ferried 50 million litres of fuel to Jinja in Uganda.
From Jinja, the commodity is taken by road around the region, including South Sudan and DR Congo.
During Madaraka Day celebrations, the President said the port has created jobs and started business buzz not only in Kisumu, but also in the entire Eastern Africa region.
“To transport fuel by road from Kisumu to Uganda takes 72 hours because of the long queues at the Malaba border. But to transport fuel from the Port of Kisumu to Port Bell in Uganda by ship takes only 12 hours.," the President said.
“This means that by the time a tanker makes one trip to Uganda by road, the MV Uhuru Ship will have made six trips,” Uhuru said.
Dredging is increasing the depth of the water to four or five metres to accommodate large and heavy passenger and cargo ships to dock.
Uhuru also launched a shipyard where the vessels will be refurbished, repaired and new ones built by the military. He also laid ground for construction of the MV Uhuru 2.
“More than a century since the ship was built in Kisumu, ship building has made a welcome return to the port. Kenya Shipyards Limited and other developments will propel Kisumu city to firmly take its rightful place as the region’s leading economic and logistics hub,” Raila said.
Meters from the port, fish seller Mary Awino is full of joy at the new Uhuru Business Park Market Complex. “I am no longer working in fear of being chased away from my stall,” Awino says. She was one of the traders evicted from the port area to allow for refurbishment.
The Sh599 million market on seven acres accommodates 1,487 traders. Construction was funded by the national government.
It’s meant to accommodate traders who were displaced from Kenya railways land at the port.
At Momboleo, the Sh498 million 28,000-seat Jomo Kenyatta International Stadium that hosted the Madaraka Day fete is nearly complete.
Tom Alila, a sports administrator, calls the stadium a game changer in sports development and hosting state functions. Western Kenya and Nyanza is where football is played," he said.
He adds, "We have Kisumu All Stars, Chemelil Sugar, Sony Sugar, Muhoroni youth coming from this region. This stadium was a very good idea as leagues can now run concurrently. It is a big milestone."
"The stadium is judged by the playing surface. We have is natural grass. It is not artificial," he said.
In neighbouring Siaya county, twin projects of road and water have brought joy to residents who have suffered water shortage for years.
The President launched the Sh2.4 billion Siaya Bondo Water project providing clean water to more than 640,000 residents or about 63 per cent of the population,
It is financed by the government and the African Development Bank.
It was implemented in two phases and targeted markets, town centres, government and learning institution in first phase; the second phase will benefit households.
“The huge project involved rehabilitation of the water intake in River Yala serving the giant Sidindi Malanga water project and water to flow by gravity across the county,” Uhuru said.
The President also opened the Sh1.47 billion Kodiaga-Wagai-Akala road easing access to Akala market, the main market centre in Gem constituency.
“We used to pay between Sh100 and Sh200 to come to the market. Since the road was done we pay Sh50. The distance is much shorter," trader Cleophas Rajong’ said.
Soon, the President said, he will return to launch the Nakuru-Kisumu Passenger Train Terminus and the Kisumu-Butere line.
The line is expected to reduce transport costs to Kisumu and the Western region and enhance cargo movement to the lakeside city and beyond.
The head of state said he will also visit Kisumu in coming months “to commission development of the 1,000- acre Kisumu Special Economic Zone."
Also to be launched or commissioned are feeder ports of Asembo Bay, Kendu Bay, Homa Bay and Sio Port, Sirari Corridor Ahero–Kisii road for Sh9.5 billion and ground breaking for the Sh2.5 Billion Mbita -Sindo-Kiabuya-Karungu road
The President is also expected to approve Sh350 million for South Nyanza Sugar Company, grant a Charter to Tom Mboya University College and commission construction of the administration and tuition block project for Sh355.85 million.
(Edited by V. Graham)
