Forgotten border town that relies on Tanzania

BY MKALA MWAGHESHA

Located two kilometres from the Tanzania border, Taveta sits at the foot of the iconic Mount Kilimanjaro and is 102 kilometres from Voi.

After Mwatate town, the tarmac gives way to a murram road. Since independence, the road has occasionally been levelled, but no tarmac has ever been laid. “It is interesting that just across the border on the Tanzanian side, there is tarmac,” says Mama Linga, a hardware owner in the dusty one street town that has no single supermarket.

Tsavo West sits between Mwatate and Taveta, a factor many blame for the reluctance of the Government to tarmac the road. The poor road has led to a near-standstill of business in the town and neighbourhoods like Kitobo, Njukini, Eldoro and Chumvini.

“Every time it rains, business stops as the road linking here (Taveta) to Voi and beyond is impassable,” said Mama Linga.

In April, motorists were stranded when a heavy downpour led to a three-day deluge in Tsavo West Park. Prominent people, including local MP Naomi Shaban, use planes to access the town via a small airstrip in the town.

Apart from loss of business, the plight highlights the struggles the locals have undergone since independence. Once connected through the railway network — that interestingly still exists in pieces alongside the Mwatate-Taveta Road, — the town has become a ghost of things that could have seen its development pick up from post-colonial period.

The area around Taveta town was once exclusively owned by the Criticos, the lineage of former MP Basil Criticos, whose family bought the land from Ewart Grogan in the 1960s. The land bought included two fertile parcels in Jipe and Ziwani outside the town, the latter was later sold to the Kenyatta family in 1972, where they have a large-scale orange and tangerine farm.

“In the mid 1990s, Criticos started selling the land, with anyone having from Sh150,000 getting one-and-half acres,” says Bernard Mwakisakenyi, a resident who also owns commercial farms.

The story goes that with the call for accountability and Criticos representing in Parliament a constituency largely comprising squatters, the need to show his people he cared, led to the selling and sub-dividing of the land, which was deemed too much for one person.

Critical factor

“Many people bought land there, only to sub-divide it into plots and resell them fast. There was confusion, especially when Criticos went into exile in 2001 and people took the opportunity to take the land,” says Mwakisakenyi.

With Criticos fighting both the Government and squatters over his land, the Government stepped in, asking the National Land Commission to resolve the issue. “The issue of the land with expired lease and subsequent invasion by squatters has been forwarded to the National Land Commission, which is mandated by the Constitution to provide guidelines,” says Taita Taveta County Governor, John Mruttu.

Away from land issues, the area has seen the rise in construction activity, spurred by availability of land and cheap building materials. A lorry of construction stones costs a mere Sh1,500. Building sand is even cheaper as there are pits everywhere. However, builders have to buy other materials from outside the town.

“We buy cement from Mombasa, Makindu or Voi at about Sh580 per bag and pay Sh100 per bag for transportation. We are, therefore, forced to sell each bag for at least Sh750. Some of the bags reach the hardware when they are either torn or unsellable because of the bad roads,” says Mama Linga.

Business has gone down in the town with most traders opting for more vibrant towns. Even with land available for interested home and business owners, the lack of good business environment has slowed down development. What sustains the town is farming that takes place in areas away from the town. In Kitobo, bananas, maize and wheat are farmed in plenty. The outskirt delivers most of the farm produce in Taveta.

“Life is cheap here as there is abundant food from the farms and Tanzania,” says Granton Mbararia, a boda boda operator. “The area is also secure and the market day is what we all live for,” he adds.

The market day is a phenomenon. At 1am every Wednesday, the town comes alive. Traders from Tanzania, Nairobi, Mombasa and other towns throng it to get the best products from the locality and Tanzania. Buses, which are usually on booking-only services, are in plenty to ferry traders. The council charges Sh60 per stall, a fee described by many as fair.

The town relies almost entirely on Tanzania, now that the central government has failed to utilise the resources the town has.

Most locals have subscribed to Vodacom, the leading telephone operator in Tanzania. Airtel TZ is also popular. If not connected to cable TV, channels based in Tanzania would entertain one.

“We are actually stagnant to some extent because of our neighbour (Tanzania),” says Mama Linga. “They do not allow free movement to their country and Kenyans are always closely watched when they go to sell there. They charge us more to do business, something Kenya does not do to them. They come in freely to collect items from the source and ignore us (traders in Taveta) as middle men,” she says.

Her frustrations are shared by many who lament that the Government’s reluctance to control cross-border trade like Tanzania is killing business in the town.

On this, Governor Mruttu says: “Indeed, there are complaints our traders are not being treated fairly when they cross over to Tanzania. This is a matter we will take up with the Cabinet Secretary responsible for East African Community for action.”

It is not all gloom though. The former town council acquired a 20 square kilometre piece of land that was once a sisal plantation for the town’s expansion. Customs offices are to be constructed on that land, as are other Government premises. Two new markets are also near completion, with one located at the border.

This year, the African Development Bank also approved Sh19.5 billion for the construction of a 157.5-kilometre road from Arusha to Holili in Tanzania and Taveta to Voi in Kenya.

Kenya, a beneficiary of Sh9.4 billion of the two loans approved, will put in an additional Sh1.3 billion into the project, which is expected to be completed by 2018. The projects are expected to ease transportation, business and movement of people. “The county government, on its part, has budgeted Sh105 million to finance the maintenance of county roads including those in Taveta,” Mruttu explains.

“In two years, Taveta will have woken up from its slumber and good money will be in this town,” says  Mbararia.