Kogelo’s rapid facelift after Obama becomes president

Kogelo Village was described by US President Barack Obama during his inauguration as the “small village where my father was born”, but to residents it is no longer a simple matter.

The once sleepy village has been catapulted into the international limelight, in proportions beyond its wildest dreams.

Already the elders in Kogelo want to have the names of a primary school and a secondary school named after Senator Barack Obama changed to reflect his new status.

Senator Obama Kogelo primary and secondary schools were so named following Mr Obama’s 2006 visit. The elders contend that the names have been overtaken by events.

“The community sent representatives to the US to plead with Mr Obama to authorise the change of names,” an elder Mzee Ogombe told the Nation. The community wants to replace “Senator” with “President”.

Siaya county council chairman Aggrey Onyango, under which Kogelo falls, welcomed the development saying the government meant well. “We accept any development coming up. It is our hope and prayer that more projects will come and we shall welcome them,” he said.

The transformation that began soon after Obama won is far from over, with dozens of government projects on the ground.

Already, the road leading to the homestead that was once many a driver’s nightmare whenever it rained has been cleared and gravelled. It leads to the Kisumu-Bondo road at Ndori junction. There are plans to tarmac the road.

Before he died in a plane crash last year, Roads minister Kipkalya Kones commissioned the tarmacking of Siaya-Bondo and Siaya-Rang’ala roads that pass next to Kogelo at a cost of Sh1.8 billion. The contractor, Associated Company, has already moved to site.

And only two days after Mr Obama’s historic win, Kenya Power and Lighting Company connected electricity to his ancestral home and by extension, to the villagers, making it a model rural electrification programme.

The village is in complete contrast to what Mr Obama visited in 2006 as a senator. The potholes that made his trip in 2006 unbearable have all gone.

The Ministry of Water and Irrigation has also moved in, with the Kogelo Community Water and Sanitation project, implemented by the Lake Victoria South Water Services Board that will provide Kogelo with piped water.

The board’s managing director, Mr Michael Ochieng’, said Sh6 million would be spent in the initial phase — a six-kilometre radius.

Besides the Siaya municipal council has a grant of Sh5 million from EU to expand water supply in the village. Siaya mayor James Otare is confident that this will spell an end to the chronic water shortage in the municipality.

In the period following Mr Obama’s election, Tourism minister Najib Balala led a team to visit Mama Sarah. While there, Mr Balala announced plans to put up a museum in Kogelo in honour of the 44th US president.

And with the much-talked about opening of the Western tourism circuit, Mr Obama’s ascension of the presidency will boost the industry.

The museum

The Nyang’oma Kogelo community has identified a 20-acre plot — about a kilometre away from where Mama Sarah Obama lives — where the ministries of Tourism and National Heritage will put up the Obama Cultural Centre that will host the museum, a library, a 3,000-capacity auditorium and a leadership centre, according to community leader Vitalis Ogombe.

Director of culture Silverse Anami said the Government had allocated Sh100 million for the centre. The architectural designs were developed at the universities of Nairobi and Kenyatta, he said.

Mr Anami further pledged that the Government was willing to set aside more funds in subsequent budgets to make the centre exhibit cultures of the five major communities in Nyanza.

The grand dream, Mr Ogombe said, is for the village to have a university, all thanks to the “skinny boy with a funny name” as Mr Obama introduced himself during the 2004 Democratic convention.

As part of its collaboration with the community, the Heritage ministry has already started an annual cultural extravaganza. This was the first time the event was held to coincide with the inauguration. It will be an annual event.

The ministry has sent project manager Dorcas Odege to see the projects to their conclusion. Mr Ogombe said: “We want to portray a typical Luo culture that is almost dying, but which we feel should be revived.”

Hopes that the US president will visit the village while still in office has set in motion several development projects. President Obama’s half-sister, Dr Auma, is putting up a vocational training centre; it has employed a number of youths.

Land rates shot up after November 4, but with the completion of these projects, it could only go up further. All the shops at the local Nyang’oma Kogelo market have been rented out and 20 parcels of land sold. Some of the buyers are from America.

At the home of Mama Sarah, the compound which was surrounded with indigenous shrubs, has since been fenced and has a police patrol base.