Webuye lost paper mill but not its chicken soup

Whenever Webuye is mentioned, many spit and frown before rushing to block their nostrils in an involuntary reaction to a nauseating odour that once filled the town.

As one of the victims of the pollution, I’m ‘happy’ to announce that the stomach-upsetting sulphur-dioxide is no more because its source — Pan African Paper Mills — collapsed in 2009.

Both government and private investors’ efforts to revive this factory that breathed life into the second-largest town in Bungoma County have come to naught.

But this does not mean Webuye also went under. Pan Paper, in fact, closed shop alone — leaving behind a fresher and a cleaner town (with a weak balance sheet, though).

Despite this blow, Webuye people remain clean-hearted. It does not matter whether you are loaded or poor; every visitor to a home in my town is assured of a sumptuous meal of chicken (locally known as engokho) and ugali (busuma).

Located on Nairobi-Eldoret-Malaba highway and Kenya-Uganda Railway, the town that is sheltered from strong winds by Chetambe Hills is inhabited mainly by the Bukusu and Tachoni.

Its business potential has also pulled in investors from other communities including Asians, Kikuyu, Luo, Kamba, Arabs among others.

Before Independence, Webuye was known as Broderick Falls — named after the first white man to visit the nearby Nabuyole Falls on River Nzoia.

The current name is derived from a cobbler who used to repair shoes for railway workers.

With a population of over 75,000, the 69-square-kilometre town that lies on the boundary of Webuye East and Webuye West constituencies is the headquarters of Bungoma East Sub-County.

PRESENCE OF INDUSTRIES

The commercial centre that has a good transport and communication network still boasts of processing and manufacturing industries like the Pan African Heavy Chemicals, Webuye Millers and several cane jaggeries. Cash-strapped Nzoia Sugar Company is several kilometres away.

Webuye hosts a number of colleges and university colleges, including Kenya Medical Training College and Masinde Muliro University campus.

These institutions have increased demand for houses, leading to a property boom. The student population has also granted businesses, which bore the brunt of Pan Paper’s closure, a lifeline. The learners have added flavour to the town’s night life.

Webuye, like Bungoma Town, is a melting pot of Bukusu culture, the peak season being August of every ‘even’ year (2012, 2014, 2016 etc) when the community’s traditional circumcision ceremonies are held.

Tourists flock the region to enjoy traditional meals and beer or busaa, song and dance that culminates into boys’ initiation into adulthood.

Visitors marvel at the boys who show no signs of pain even as their foreskins are cut. The community equates this to manhood and those who cry or tremble are branded ‘women’. The ‘cowards’ are admonished and many cannot speak before the ‘real’ men.

Other attractions are Nabuyole Falls, Pan Paper Cultural Centre, River Nzoia and Chetambe Hills.

PLEASENT SCENERY

A walk to the peak of these hills gives a beautiful view of the town besides being home to a historical site where the Bukusu battled colonialists in the 1950s.

The tools used and information on the community’s struggle are housed at Lukoba Lwa Chetembe (Chetambe’s homestead). The hills also host telecommunication network boosters and broadcasting masts.

The future of Webuye is bright if the government honours its pledge to revive Pan Paper and Nzoia Sugar Company reverses its loss-making streak.

In the meantime, residents still engage in subsistence farming, business, preserving culture and of course, serving visitors with engokho.

Mr Misiko is a Master’s student at Chuka University.