Most towns designated as county headquarters face problems ranging from poor planning to lack of facilities; the solution is so near, yet so far, writes NICK OLUOCH 

With the devolved system of governance taking shape, many are moving to the newly created county headquarters to fill in for the need for human resource and trade, in what is becoming the new focal point of the Kenyan economy.

And with this, there is a sudden pressure on the existing housing facilities and an urgent need for more houses to be put up in the county headquarters to cope with this demand.

This push is posing a serious challenge to the towns, some of which, just months back, were small towns housing district headquarters. Cases in point are towns like Kiambu, Homa Bay and Migori.

Kiambu town, for instance was originally designated Kiambu County headquarters. The governor William Kabogo has, however, argued for the temporary relocation of the county headquarters to Thika town citing lack of facilities. The move has met resistance from local leaders.

The Kikuyu Council of Elders joined the voices opposing the movement of some operations to Thika town.

Kiambu leaders and residents had put Kiambu forward as the headquarters arguing it was centrally located and also bears the county’s name.

The municipal headquarters was to be the governor’s office and some of his staff, while the county council offices were to host his deputy, but Kabogo and the Transitional Authority have said they are inadequate.

Kiambu woes

 “Kiambu is gazetted as the county headquarters and it will remain so, but the office of the governor is not like that of the mayor — it should be respected. We want to move temporarily and at the same time construct nice offices in Kiambu town,” Kabogo had proposed.

The challenges, however, differ. In Migori, while there has been no argument about the hosting of the county headquarters, there is pressure on facilities.

According to Joseph Omondi, a real estate agent, the most challenging issue is that the population in some county headquarters has risen significantly.

“It is a fact that most of the county headquarters were never prepared for anything like this,” he says adding that most of the people constructing houses at the headquarters have been small scale constructors working on four or five houses, and have never seen the need for constructing more.

low rates

This, he says, was prompted by the low rates paid for residential houses in towns like Migori, Homa Bay and Nyamira, who will now house the headquarters. He says the low rates made construction of residential houses unattractive for developers. 

The rent for a two-bedroom house in Migori town, for instance, went for as low as Sh3,000 as opposed to a similar house used for commercial purposes, which goes for Sh20,000. This is now changing, and getting the cheap houses is not easy now with rates nearly doubling.

With the county system in place, however, Omondi believes the higher rates likely to be charged are already attracting contractors, some from as far a Nairobi and Mombasa, who have realised they can earn more by constructing housing units in towns designated as county headquarters at a cheaper rate than in major towns.

Many county headquarters are already experiencing an increase in the number of the construction work.

This is, however, where the problem begins — many of the county headquarters lack proper planning guidelines.

Counties like Migori, Nyamira, Kisii and Kisumu have no decipherable zoning system, with residential homes neighbouring clubs and schools — something that goes against the Physical Planning Act, which lays the rules and the regulations for contractors.

And the problem is spread across the country, something Omondi believes will be a major headache for the county governments when they eventually settle down to plan the towns.

“These houses already exist and there is no question of demolishing them,” he says, adding that any new county physical panning office might be limited to enforcing the rules on new developments and not those already built.

implementation

Migori District Physical Planning Officer Ruth Kaloki says most towns within the county have a plan, just waiting to be implemented.

“The plan has provision for everything the residents need,” she says, adding that her office is ready to work with other arms of government to implement it.

Saying the department has always worked to ensure that all major towns are zoned, Kaloki argues that this is necessary to ensure that commercial zones are not combined with, say residential areas or schools.

Moses Owiti, a small-scale contractor in the region, says the main problem with the planning at most county headquarters can be traced back to the councils, which operated them.

“I have been to a number of planning offices and they all have wonderful plans, which include even recreation parks, ” he says. Owiti blames civic leaders and town planning departments for not implementing these plans.

He says the problem has not been lack of policy, but has more to do with implementation.

zoning issues

He gives an example of Migori town, which, he says, despite having been zoned by the local physical planning office apart from the town centre, it is difficult to know which area is meant for what activity.

And according to the immediate former town planning chairman of Migori Municipal Council John Bonyo, the fear of becoming unpopular among the voters is one of the reasons leaders will find it difficult to enforce some laws, especially those that might lead to demolition.

“These are the voters and demolishing their houses, even in road reserves is politically tricky,” he says, adding that it will take a strongwilled person to enforce the rules.

planning office role

Omondi, says physical planning offices in the county governments should be given more powers to enforce their directives if the counties are to be well planned.

“The physical planning office simply plays an advisory role, and more often that not, their advice is ignored,” he says.

Omondi argues that it is only when these offices have the powers to seek demolition of irregularly constructed houses that contractors will adhere to planning regulations.

Another factor, he says, is the staffing of county physical planning offices with qualified people who can be paid adequately and on time, something many local authorities had a problem with.

“If one has not been paid for five months, chances are that he will resort to corruption,” he says.