Magadi: A mimic of colonial township

In Magadi, all property developments are controlled. Thorough vetting is done prior to letting out business premises and you are advised to plan your accommodation before setting foot in the town, writes Maore Ithula

Although all urban centres in Kenya are unique, Magadi Township is in a class of its own. The urban centre is perhaps the only town in the country that is wholly private but serves members of the public, albeit in a restricted manner.

Built in 1926 by Magadi Soda Company, all properties in Magadi township are erected in a British industrial town style that puts more emphasis on how easily workers access the soda ash plant.

Here, the highrise residential quarters for ordinary workers are built only a stone throw away from the factory while lush quarters for senior managers’ are set two-three kilometres away from the noisy ash-bellowing factory.

A section of houses in Magadi town. [PHOTOS: MAORE ITHULA AND COURTESY]

In the past Century of its existence, the company has changed ownership many times but properties in the town, including a market, shops, a shopping centre, a matatu stage and a police station complete with a dozen police officers, remain in the tight grip of the company.

John Kabera, the company’s human resource manager, says properties within the township are never for sale.

"It is not possible to sell an inch of any property within the land allocated to Magadi Soda Company because such an action would affect the entire value of the company and interfere with the operations of soda ash and salt production, which is our core business," he explains.

Magadi Soda Company owns more than 220,000 hectares, a vast swath of land that stretches to the border of Kenya with Tanzania and touches Lake Natron. The resourceful Lake Magadi is in the heart of this chunk of land. The township is actually an island inside the salty lake and it is accessed by road and rail via causeways — raised railways and roads over the heavy salty water.

colonial replicas

Housing for employees, says Kabera, is allocated according to the worker’s position in employment. It is a set up that is a clear replication of the way the colonial masters in Kenya built housing units in the Nairobi Metropolis.

In the city, a hierarchical housing structure was designed such that the slums of Pumwani and Kibera were reserved for the lowest of the low among city residents. Immediately on top came Maringo, Mbotela, Ofafa Jerichoand Jerusalem estates meant for the upper lower class of people working in the city. These were mainly clerks and messengers.

The Umoja I and II estates were bridging abodes from upper lower class to the lower middle class.

The middle class proper started raring heads through Buru Buru before moving southwards to South C and B, Otiende and finally Westlands for the richer upper middle class.

Before reaching the naturally coveted self-actualisation status in Muthaiga, the upper classes were designed to bud at Kileleshwa and Loresho.

Many things have changed since independence with many other forms of housing-by-class-structures emerging spontaneously.

However, Magadi township has jealously safeguarded this structure like the loyal servant of the Queen of England that it no longer is.

In Magadi township, structures of staff accommodation are explicit so that casuals live in rooms that are part of most highrise flats while the rank and file in the permanent employment ladder live in bedsitters in similar structures.

These structures are obviously nearer to the factory that is situated on the western part of the small island. At the centre of these houses are social amenities which workers share with non-employees of the company. They include a shopping centre complete with a supermarket and a public swimming pool.

exclusive club

Supervisors are housed in flats that are built about 300 metres from the factory. There are no parking lots for residents of these flats.

Next to this estate is a club, which is exclusive to members of this rank.

As you move eastwards, middle level managers are housed in bungalows built in a quarter acre compound, each with ample parking for two cars. However, these houses are all built closely and are interlinked by paved footpaths.

Further east are bigger bungalows, each accessed by an independent paved road. They sit on half-acre fenced compounds complete with attached servant quarters, again with spacious parking for two cars. Senior managers live in these properties that are a little further apart from one another.

sign posts

In this part of the world, there is a signboard at every junction leading to every house indicating who the occupier is. And in the world of the chosen few are magnificent castles only seen in Nairobi’s Karen. It is in these exclusive housing units that the few centres of power in Magadi township live.

One of the most outstanding differences between Magadi and Nairobi, although the same people of a similar culture built them, is that the glamour of housing in the former increases eastwards while it rises in the opposite direction in the city.

Perhaps this is because unlike Nairobi, the eastern part of Magadi Island is higher than its western side. The elites of the area have their fun at the exclusive Magadi Soda Sports Club until 11pm. Clubs for the less endowed within the township close two hours earlier. The sports club is a specially designed outfit that equals a fivestar hotel in Nairobi, says Kabera.

The structure and facilities of the club are built on about four-acres piece of land.

Apart from deliberately lacking a golf course and a casino, this club provides most indoor sporting facilities that would make any CEO of a blue chip company in Nairobi feel relaxed.

It is practically the only town that has full control of its population at night. The town has a standard population of about 5,000 residents and statistics are verified every five years through a Census. About 75 per cent of the entire populace of the township are permanent employees of Magadi Soda Company and other people offering services related to the existence of the company, says Kabera, who is in charge taking theses censuses.

Guest facilities

It is possible to maintain this figure because although there are two guest houses built and owned by the company, these facilities are not open to members of the public in the town, he says.

Kabera says the main guest house has eight lavishly furnished rooms while the sports club has four master en-suite rooms. There are also some two double rooms in prefabricated guest quarters within the company, he says.

"All these guest facilities are for people who visit the township to do business with us (the company). There is no room for paid lodgings here," he says.

Indeed, this writer had to make special accommodation arrangements for himself because any available space for visitors into the township were filled at the time of his visit.

Even businesspersons who carry out their trade in the township are both residents and tenants of the company, says Kabera.

Says he: "When a business premise falls vacant for any reason, we advertise it. We interview and vet potential tenants. The successful applicant takes the business premise and is consequently allocated a rental house to reside in."
Kaloki Musau runs a retail shop in the town and says every trader gets a housing unit that is commensurate with his/her business size but not more than a double room residence within the high rises.

doing business

"This means if you run a stall in the local market where you pay say Sh1,000 a month, you will be allocated a room for your residential needs for which you pay Sh500. A shopkeeper is the highest ranking business person in the township and he/she pays Sh5,000 for the shop and Sh1,500 for a double-room house,"says Musau.

This is another area where the township glaringly departs from Nairobi where the finest things in life are owned and enjoyed by members of the business community.

Magadi township goes to sleep literally at 7.30pm and life starts at 5.30am. There are security guards at the gate of the town to ensure that all and sundry obey this rule to the letter. Please keep this edict in mind any time you intend to visit the township!