Former timber towns decay as logging ban deals major blow

The Mau Summit Town that used to thrive on railway transport business. The town has never recovered from the economic shock after people shifted to roads. [Harun Wathari, Standard]

In the 1980s, various towns along major roads in Nakuru and Baringo counties enjoyed a vibrant economy supported by the lucrative timber industry while others developed from railway stations.

At the time, the towns, including Maji Mazuri in southern Baringo, Mau Summit and Elburgon in Nakuru, were major economic zones standing with pride for their artistic wooden and tin houses.

“In previous years, living or running a business in these towns was prestigious. Everyone from the village wanted to work and live close to Maji Mazuri town. While most homes were mud walled, the town gave visitors a different feeling of modernity,” says Peter Njoroge, a resident.

In the late 1990s, the government banned logging in government forests, to the detriment of most towns that depended on the lumbering industry.

Today, a visit to Maji Mazuri town, located eight kilometres off the Nakuru-Eldoret highway, paints a picture of rusty houses, a low population and a deserted place.

Mr Njoroge, who worked in one of the sawmills, says since the closure of over 30 sawmills, the town has never been the same again.

The establishments have gradually dilapidated, with some leaking from roofs and others leaning on one side.

“The ban on logging led to massive layoffs, which left many people unable to make meaningful developments. Repairs on the existing houses are rare. Some collapsed and investors are not willing to rebuild them due to poor returns,” he says.

Paul Cheruiyot says although the ban worked well against a looming environmental disaster due to massive deforestation, their livelihoods were left hanging on the balance as they had to seek new ways of survival.

While some of the over 2,000 workers who were laid off moved to other areas in search of greener pastures, others settled around the town, resulting to a slum area.

Mr Cheruiyot and his former workmates shifted to agriculture, farming within the areas where forestland had been cleared. Income from this venture is however by far below what they used to make in the sawmills.

Tribal clashes

“The major source of income today is agriculture. Maize and potatoes have average performance in the area but it cannot sustain the town as sawmilling did.

“The little we get from farming is just enough to sustain our families,” he says.

The cosmopolitan town was greatly affected by tribal clashes in the 1990s. Most of the established businesses crumbled down and forced some residents to flee the area.

Mau Summit town started as the railroad station, a major stopover for passenger and cargo trains on the Kenya-Uganda railway.

During the active days of the railway transport, resident John Wanjau says there used to be a few lodges and hotels whose death came soon after they were started.

With improved road networks in the country, which ushered in more vehicles on the Kenyan roads, the use of railway transport drastically declined.

“Fast road transport affected the demand for railway services. People shifted to the Nakuru-Kisumu highway which passes kilometres away from this town. The town stopped serving its purpose, leading to its downfall,” says Mr Wanjau.

Currently, the formerly vibrant town has been reduced to a village trading centre with only a few permanent buildings.

Hotels are no more and some of the business premises have been turned into residential houses.

Mr Wanjau says the downfall of the town was a blessing to Total Junction where the highways from Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret converge.

“Total trading centre has grown into a big town due to high activity along the highways. It scooped business opportunities from Mau Summit town and has outgrown it now. Most investors have fled from here,” he says.

Pangs of the ban on the lumbering industry did not spare Elburgon town.

“The economy of Elburgon town was majorly driven by the timber industry. The town was home to dozens of sawmills harvesting trees from the Mau Forest. It suffered a major blow from the 1999 and this year’s bans,” says former Molo MP Njenga Mungai.

The two sanctions on sawmilling led to the closure of a handful of sawmills in the area, with at least 100,000 people directly and indirectly rendered jobless.