Since independence, the residents of Mahanya and Urimi villages in Nyabera sub-location, West Uyoma ward, Rarieda sub-county have been crying for the opening up of a road to connect them to the outside world.
To them, dreams that a time will come when vehicles will access the area have always remained a mirage. All they could manage are footpaths that meander across the villages that can, at best, be accessed by motorcycles.
For decades, politicians crisscrossed the villages on foot, promising to fulfil what they had been desiring, only to forget immediately they left.
After living with empty promises for years, the residents realised that they do not have to bank on both the county and national governments to link them with the outside world. They instead looked inward and, with one accord, decided to open up the Misori-Kitimbo road, a crucial link that they have been yearning for.
According to the residents, fishing activities as well as horticultural farming within the two villages and beyond have suffered for years for lack of access to the markets.
One of the villagers who has played a key role in the opening up of the road, Dr. Joseph Okweso, laments that the area lacks some of the basic things that define development.
“Some of the basic things that define development definitely include road networks because what we do to improve our lives will always involve transportation,” says Dr. Okweso, through whose effort bulldozers, graders, and shovels have been on the ground opening up the two and a half-kilometre road that connects the two villages to the Misori-Kawaka-Bondo road.
Dr. Okweso, like the rest of the members of the community, sees their efforts as a big challenge to both the county and national governments that they have to up their game and act on the priority needs of the community.
His sentiments are shared by bishop George Otieno Orida, who laments that the villagers always dread the prospect of death of a community member outside, as this means that they have to carry the caskets shoulder high.
“It is always dreadful for the expectant mothers too, who have to be pushed on a wheelbarrow for kilometres to Misori and other health facilities,” said Orida, who said that the community lacks any development projects from the government.
A victim of the poor track leading to the village, Jeremiah Arrum Ombet laments how he had to endure the trouble of looking for strong young men to carry the remains of his late wife from Misori tarmac road junction to Mahanya amidst heavy downfall.
“When I recently lost my wife, we were forced to carry the casket in our heads, and the people carrying the casket arrived home ahead of me, which is not right,” he said, adding that there was little he could do because of the load and the fact that he is aged.
Ombet says that they have always lived in the thickets for all the period that he has been alive.
“Since 1957, when I started to know my surroundings, we have always lived in the thickets here,” he said, and he described the opening of the road as a miracle.
To Hellen Achieng, also a resident of Mahanya village, promises of opening up the Misori-Kitimbo road are always on the politicians’ lips whenever elections are around the corner.
“We have suffered a lot because of this road. They always ask for our votes, promising to open it up only to disappear,” she said.
However, pastor Camlus Opondo looks at the issue differently. To him, the name of the village, Mahanya, could be to blame.
“Mahanya” (Githeri without beans in dholuo) could be driving away the leaders because most people despise it as a meal.
Opondo says that carrying the sick on their backs for kilometres to the tarmac road in Misori was the norm in the area.
“We have even carried Dr. Okweso’s mother all the way to Misori once when she was sick and needed to be taken to the hospital,” said Opondo, a pastor with the local Pentecostal Assemblies Church.
The villagers, however, were united in their calls to the County Government of Siaya and the Government of Kenya that they deserve development, just like other tax payers.
They called on Siaya Governor, James Orengo to ensure that money meant to open up the road, in case there was any, is used to construct an early childhood development centre in the area.
By Phillip Onyango/KNA
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