Wundanyi rides on luck

BY PASCAL MWANDAMBO

During a highly charged meeting in Wundayi in March 2011, leaders from Taita-Taveta County could not reach a consensus over which town should be picked as the county seat of power, with leaders from each town pulling to their side.

When voting was done, Mwatate got three votes, Voi one, while Taveta and Wundayi did not get any. Today, however, Wundanyi is the seat of the county.

 “Near the Southwest town of Voi sits a little oasis tucked in the Taita Hills called Wundanyi. I like to call it the “Switzerland of Kenya” because of the breathtaking mountain views and lush rolling hills. I think Wundanyi is one of the few towns in Kenya where anyone can walk around the streets late in the night and not worry about safety.”

This is an apt description of Wundanyi town by a travel consultant and blogger Nat Robinson from Colorado in the United States, who says in his blog that he has travelled to 33 countries across six continents.

His love for Wundanyi and its natural beauty is not only just an isolated incident nor coincidence. This town, perched prominently in the awe-inspiring and spectacular rocky hills, is a wonder to behold, and has attracted visitors, both local and foreign, since the colonial times.

During the 1950s, the colonial administration moved the district headquarters from Voi, whose climate was rather harsh, to Wundanyi.

“The local community, out of their sheer generosity and thirst for development, decided to give out their land to the colonial administration to put up the district headquarters,” says former Wundanyi chief and businessman Robert Mwasingo.

He adds: “Wundanyi has vast development potential but the main challenge is enough land for horizontal expansion, as the town is surrounded by private smallholder farms, which have title deeds.”

LAND INJUSTICE

The businessman says that later during Jomo Kenyatta’s reign, the Ministry of Local Government had attempted to acquire more land for the town’s expansion, but locals refused, claiming the colonial government had failed to compensate them for the land it had taken to put up district headquarters during the 1950s.

Mwasingo says Wundanyi town can only grow vertically, where those with plots and title deeds can put up storey buildings.

Wundanyi county representative Raymond Mwangola, says the town has a vast ecotourism potential, which can be exploited to generate revenue for the county government.

“Ecotourism projects, home stay tourism facilities and cottages, can play a key role in realising the economic potential of Wundanyi,” says Mwangola.

Among the spectacular and spellbinding scenery in Wundanyi include the Wesu, Iyale, Shomoto and Mwachora rocks. The latter was traditionally used as execution point where social misfits such as thieves and sorcerers were hurled down to death.

Vuria Hill, the highest point in Coast region is another feather in Wundanyi’s cap. Other places of interest for visitors to Wundanyi include the Kenyatta Caves at Mwanguwi Village in Mbale about two kilometres from the town, where Mzee Jomo Kenyatta used to hide as he evaded the colonial dragnet.

On the other hand, it can be rightly said that Wundanyi town has grown out of sheer luck. Just as during the colonial times when it was picked in preference for Voi as district headquarters, the town is currently the temporary county headquarters for Taita-Taveta County.

The governor John Mruttu, his cabinet and county assembly are all housed in Wundanyi. This follows the failure by Mwatate town, the defacto county headquarters to provide facilities such as offices to hold the new officers.

Despite the choice of Mwatate, Wundanyi got lucky, at least for the moment, the major advantage being the existing infrastructure.

However, one of the challenges Wundanyi faces is lack of affordable housing, with most tenants feeling that they are not getting value for money. The only housing scheme in Wundanyi is the Mbela Estate with 101 tenants built by the then Taita-Taveta County Council.

The tenants were up in arms early this year over what they termed arbitrary rent hikes by the county council, despite the fact that the local authority was not repairing the houses while sanitary conditions were deplorable.

COUNTY GOVERNMENT

The disgruntled tenants, most of them civil servants, pulled their punches after they were threatened with eviction.

“We are waiting to see how the county government will address our problems because we are now in transition from county council to county government. You see, right now we are still paying rent to the county council whose mandate will soon be under the county government,” says Christopher Laja, who has been living in Mbela Estate for the last eight years.

Laja says he used to pay Sh1,200 rent for a single room at the estate in 2005. Now the same room goes for 3,500. He says a two-bedroom house goes for Sh6,500.

“Tenants are not against hiking of rent. What is irritating us is the deplorable state of the houses”, says the businessman .

That notwithstanding, the defunct Taita-Taveta County Council had done remarkable work in Wundanyi compared to its counterpart in Voi. Social and recreational facilities in the town include the well kept Dawson Mwanyumba Stadium and the County Social Hall.

A modern slaughter house in the town is also another credit that goes to the defunct local authority.

“The housing problems in Wundanyi and especially in Mbela Estate are among the issues we will address as a county government. With the new governance system now in place, problems which we could not solve as a council will most likely be addressed,” says immediate former Taita-Taveta County Council chairman Eresmus Mwarabu.

Among the landmark developments in Wundanyi is the multimillion Taita-Taveta Teachers Housing project and The Kenya National Library Services library in the town.