Founded in 1955, the town has largely remained stagnant. But the advent of devolution has breathed life into this rural hamlet, which is already showing signs of growth, writes NAFTAL MAKORI

Developers and property owners in Nyamira town are reaping from high optimism created by the advent of devolution among residents. Property prices have gone up, with an acre of land going for between Sh1 million and Sh4 million.

Developers have also started investing heavily in housing whose demand is said to have more than doubled. Rental costs have also gone up.

But there is a biting shortage of decent houses. According to the county director of housing Robert Sang’ori, majority of the newly-deployed Government staff are putting up in hotels while others commute from Kisii town, some 30 kilometres away, daily. They spend Sh200 per day on transport.

Staying in hotels

“Government houses are few and most officers deployed here are staying in hotels. The situation is that bad,” said Sang’ori.

Although rent in Nyamira is cheaper compared to other more developed towns, the main problem is shortage of houses. Most people pay between Sh3,000 and Sh10,000 in rent per month depending on condition of the house and its location. Five years ago, most residents paid an average of Sh1,000. Sang’ori observes that insufficient housing in the town would be the county government’s most immediate challenge. A major housing crisis is expected as more county staff get deployed.

The county governor John Nyagarama is among those caught up in the housing shortage crisis. He lacks a residential house in the town and has to commute from his Mosobeti home, 30 kilometres away, and uses the pathetic Metamaywa-Kebirigo Road.

HARD WORK

“Lack of decent housing in this town and the poor road network are critical challenges. We will work hard to deliver on our promises on infrastructure development,” says Nyagarama.

Sang’ori argues that Nyamira’s housing problems began with lack of sufficient space since most land parcels are privately owned.

“It is a challenge that we must grapple with. Physical planning of this town is pathetic since developers have built haphazardly,” he notes. Prospects are good that as county governments promise creation jobs, the demand for housing would rise, leading to good business for the housing sector.

Sang’ori says civil servants have 14 housing units and they are all fully occupied. Institutions like Nyamira Police Division and the district hospital have put up their own housing units for their staff.

Private developers have moved in to fill the gap, and Sang’ori is upbeat that public-private partnerships would drive the real estate sector and make Nyamira town an investment hub.

“The town is rural and it would take a lot of effort to attain status of a developed town. We hope it will develop fast enough,” he added.

Nyamira is a one-street stretch that begins from Konate and ends at Nyabite Market (more than three kilometres) and for decades, it has stagnated. But according to immediate former County Council of Nyamira clerk Francis Mbeche, under the new dispensation, the governor would have powers to declare the municipality status for the town to include Nyaramba, Kebirigo, Sironga and Nyamaiya trading centres.

Municipal status

He says the catchment has a residential population of more than 250,000 people, qualifying it to attain the municipal status as per the Urban Centres and Cities Act, 2012.

The act states that the governor may, on resolution of the county assembly, confer the status of municipality to a town if it has a population of more than 250,000 people as per the gazetted results of the last population census, has space for expansion, integrated development plan, revenue collection potential, sufficient space for expansion as well as infrastructural facilities.

But observers say the town refused to grow due to lack of pull factors, geographical location and poor topography.

They also argue the town lacks land for expansion since much of it is privately owned.

“We have several acres of land in Sironga area that can be used for various functions. Expansion of this town should not be limited to its current location,” says Mbeche.

Nyamira town started in 1955 as a divisional headquarter of former Kisii district (now Kisii and Nyamira counties). Dunston Masaki, a former senior chief, recalls the first district officer to be posted here by the colonial government was called Mr Philip. Locals gave him the name Nyangaresi because he was visibly cruel. After serving for a while, another British administrator Hubert Judge was posted.

Upbeat

He explains that since the colonial period, the town has failed to gain vibrancy in its growth. He, however, remains upbeat that with the county government now in place, prospects of growth are high.

The town stagnated since 1985 until it gained the status of a district headquarters in 1989. Remarkably, in 2004 when the Kisii-Chemosit Road was done, it dawned on residents that Nyamira Town could indeed become something bigger.

The tarmacking of Konate-Senta Road further opened up the town that was initially unreachable due to poor roads.

“It was worse. To travel from Kisii to Nyamira town one could spend several hours on the road, especially when it rained,” says Masaki.

But all along, residents have reduced Nyamira Town to a toddler while magnanimously boosting the growth of neighbouring Kisii.

The Central Business District of the town does not exist. There is no parking space and backstreets have been encroached upon —only pathways are left.

An ideal town would have a sewerage system and allocated land for cemetery services, but none of that can be found in Nyamira.