Why planned Kisumu City upgrade has created anxiety among traders

By Dennis Onyango

Kisumu, Kenya: The planned Sh4 billion modernisation of Kisumu city has elicited mixed reactions from residents, with some traders expressing fear that they could lose their property.

The project will involve demolition of informal settlements to create space for better housing units.

The Kisumu main bus park that fetches the county government more than Sh6 million per month will also be moved to Mamboleo, Otonglo and Nyamasaria areas.

All structures in areas earmarked for the project will also be demolished, with property owners in Nyalenda, Dunga, Manyatta and Gesoko expected to be given money to relocate to create space for the facelift.

The county government has already issued a one month notice to property owners to upgrade their structures to standards required in a city.

The county also plans to do away with iron sheet houses in estates such as Arina, Lumumba, Ondiek and Makasembo suspected to be hideouts for criminals.

County executive member in charge of Physical Planning, Roads and Public Works Vincent Kodera said the administration will ensure residents are involved fully in the exercise.

“We want the buildings to look like they are in a city. They must be renovated failure to which we will take an appropriate action,” he said.

Affect businesses

In the new-look city, Oile Market will be relocated to an alternative area next to Social Hall and renamed Maendeleo, with its current location set to become a park.

Traders, however, say relocation of the market from the city centre may negatively affect their businesses.

“We will not afford the rent in the new market, which is also too small to accommodate all of us,” said Susan Atieno, a fishmonger.

County Governor Jacktone Ranguma urged the residents to embrace the facelift, saying it will lead to development.

“Kisumu was last upgraded in 1963 and the population has since gone up,” Ranguma said.

 Kisumu Business Coalition Chairman Israel Agina allayed fears that the county government was planning to repossess all land in the city, including that which was legally acquired.

“The facelift is aimed at according Kisumu the status of a millennium city,” he said.

The quest for more land for development has led to widening of the urban boundaries of the city with temporary houses that used to dot parts of the slums uprooted and permanent houses and commercial units taking up their places.