Webuye’s rapid decline into a crime-ridden ghost town

In just five months, life for residents of Webuye Town in Western Kenya has turned into a nightmare following the closure of the Pan African Paper Mills in February. The locked shops and clusters of idle youth underscore the decline of a once vibrant trading centre on its way to becoming a ghost town.

When Pan Paper opened its doors in 1970, residents of this western town saw it as a harbinger of good things to come. And, for several decades, business did boom especially in bars and restaurants. Webuye was well on its way to becoming a major town in the region.

Vivienne Keya, a 25-year-old environmentalist who was born in the area, concedes that things were good for awhile, but that the good life came at a price.

“There was some money going around the town. People had a bit to spend,” she said. “But Pan Paper came with employment in one hand and serious environmental degradation in the other.”

Ms Keya, an officer with the Green Belt Movement, said the harm the company did to the environment outweighed the few positive things it did.

Irreversible damage

As far as she and other environmentalists are concerned, the giant paper mill caused irreversible damage to the surrounding community and the micro-climate of the area has been changing as the years go by.

“Look around,” she said, pointing at the roofs of rusting corrugated iron. “Some of these houses are less than a year old, and their roofs are already rusted.”

The culprit, she said, was the acid rain caused by the sulphuric gases the factory emitted in the process of making paper. “Imagine, then, what the rain does to the crops and the surrounding vegetation,” she said.

In spite of these negative aspects, life in Webuye centred around the factory, and when it was shut down, life more or less came to a standstill.

“There is nothing left for us here,” said 35-year-old Joseph Wafula. “I am thinking of following one of my friends to either Nairobi or Mombasa. Maybe they might have something for me to do.”

Mr Wafula, an electrical engineer, was one of the 30,000 people who depended on the factory for his livelihood. He said that although he wasn’t paid a lot, it was enough to ensure that he could cover most of his family’s needs.

“I was able to pay school fees for my children, buy food, give my wife some pocket money and even spare some change for a good time in town,” he said. “Now I have nothing.”

Many of his friends have left town. “As a man, you cannot sit at home and do nothing,” he said. “The walls will not give you food at night or pay your bills, and if you stay behind, what will you be doing?”

Some of those unable to leave have chosen a life of crime. Gideon Nyongesa, another former Pan Paper employee, sees no harm in it. Sunday Nation found him seated in Flyover, an area many residents call one of the most dangerous places in town.

“We are the ones who do ‘things’ around here,” he said. “We are not proud of what we do, but right now there are only two options on the table: steal or die of hunger. And no normal person would knowingly choose death.”

Area District Commissioner John Litunda admitted that since the closure of the factory, the crime rate in Webuye has been rising, something he attributes to the increased number of idle youths in town.

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