Have you ever taken a walk along Mbale or around Mbale town? Do you ever wonder why its growth is retarded? While county governments arrived almost ten years ago, billions of shillings that have gone through Mable town as the administrative unit, have not spurred growth or change.
Mbale town is circled by a community that’s not willing to let go of their ancestral plots. The community around Mbale town is living in abject poverty despite holding onto Rungu of power, remember it is at Mbale town where the administrative unit of the county sits.
People here are holding onto their plots, graves and in the end inconveniencing the county government or persons willing to invest here. The clan of Avamutembe and other clans at Mbale town are seriously not willing to let go of their graves.
The government has over the years tried to plead with these people to relocate them in order to open space for development but cultural attractions and attitudes have hindered and blinded these folks. They are holding onto nothing but graves. There is no serious development agenda around Mbale town, in fact, if the county government of vihiga will not enact and enforce development laws or bylaws, there is no way, Mbale town will grow.
Civic education should be employed to these people in order for them to make informed decisions about development. Why would they die in poverty due to forefathers graves? There is nothing wrong with moving from there and getting bigger lands and letting these plots for development. The cultural bondage that the people here live in day out and day in, will not facilitate development. The dead are dead and they will not wake up in the invent their graves are tempered with.
Imagine people holding burial ceremonies and send offs in the middle of a town. Around Mbale, a public cemetery should be created otherwise, the development agenda of Mbale town will not see the light of the day due this culture. Not far from Mbale town, Kisumu county government is trying to enforce similar bylaws in Mambo Leo, where the community there has been prohibited from burying their kinship inside the estate.
Vihiga county should take example from Kisumu county government otherwise , Mbale town is dead for development. As a place of administration in Vihiga, Mbale town lacks ultra modern social amenities. It’s at Mbale town, if you have your money and you need a good room to sleep, or for that matter, a perfect lunch, your next option is to drive to Kisumu or Kakamega. The graves of Mbale town are a source of poverty, are not making money for the relatives. Why should they hold onto them? What’s your opinion?
