When I took this picture, it was dead in the night. A champions league night filled with the joys of youth and vitality of campus life. What struck me about this butchery was that in spite of it being the only butchery in Kefinco, the proprietor had gone to great lengths to advertise and attract clientele. There was the catchy name, the Chinese made neon lights then this quote that now -on hindsight- I wish I could have taken to heart:
Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.
Kefinco, alongside Amalemba, Milimani and Maraba, are Kakamega’s founder estates. Kakamega is a Western Kenya town that nests at the edge of the few remnants of the great Congo equatorial forest-the enchanting Kakamega forest.
The neighborhood Kefinco, or simply Kef, is just off the Kakamega- Webuye highway at the Kakamega Nakumatt Mega turn. Across from the Masinde Muliro School of Nursing, off the shoulder of Kakamega’s mitumba market and within walking distance of Kakamega town. Kefinco is a sprawling mass of concrete mostly inhabited by students of Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.
Is it Kefinco or Kenifinco? How this Kakamega neighborhood got it’s name
To find an answer we go back in time, seeking out a book Industrialization in Kenya: In Search of a Strategy co-authored by one of Kenya’s pioneer economists , former permanent secretary, international consultant, the widely published Gerrishon K. Ikiara. The 1988 publication is available for reference on google books, but for the sake of your bundles, we’ll quote some of its text.
Finland is a major donor of water handpumps pumps to Kenya. It supplies pumps under a 1981 agreement for the ” Rural Water Supply Development Project in Western Province of Kenya”. KENIFINCO , a joint venture, was established to execute the project. KENIFINCO’s project area covers 28 locations in four districts in the Western and South Nyanza provinces of Kenya.
KENIFINCO therefeore is an aid arrangement between two countries: Finland and Kenya, that is financed by a grant form the Finnish International Development Assistance (FINNIDA) to improve water supply in western Kenya. The money (grant) was tied to Kenya meeting some conditions on procurement and end use. IKiara, faults the structuring of this deal. In our research, we find the faulty structuring of the deal as responsible for the state of modern day Kefinco estate in Kakamega. As you will see, what follows next is interesting as it shed lights on the precursors of both present day MMuST and Kefinco the estate.
KENIFINCO uses three makes of handpumps…..The Indian Mark II is made locally by Western College in Kakamega. It is used in deep wells. Its cylinder retails for KSH 3915. The well heads for the three handpumps are made locally by Western College in Kakamega….Half of the spares (handpumps) are manufactured in Western College…
Excellent! But what about that incomplete, hurried, even foreboding feel of the air around Kakamega’s Kefinco?
Anyone who has been to Kef will agree with me that the air around the neighbourhood is like that of an abandoned mine. The youth and exuberance of MMUST students notwithstanding. While it is comforting to know that MMUST strive towards excellence in science and technology is grounded in such rich history, we are still left with the bad taste of that uncanny feel around Kefinco. The answer to this question is well steeped in how Kefinco came to be.
Granted, the MMUST story is pleasantly surprising. But before you go swooning with love over KENIFINCO, the text preceding this revelation about the early economic importance of MMUST (Western college) to Kakamega town is damning. In actual fact, the chapter “Tied Aid and New tactics for Negotiations” in the Ikiara and Coughlin book criticizes an approach to diplomacy in Africa. An approach that still ails and systematically deprives Africa in the 21st century. Here it goes:
Donors import many makes of handpumps from diverse producers. As a result, the users usually do not know who the manufacturers are and how and where to obtain spare parts. Also, the local manufacture of spares is on a one-off basis is often expensive or impractical. Hence, many of the donated handpumps remain unrepaired and the boreholes are idle until, perhaps, a new donated pump arrives. The activities of KENIFINCO in western Kenya …. illustrate how the receipt of pipes and pumps given as “aids” actually underdevelopes Kenya’s productive capacity for handpumps and water pipes.
The Development That Lay The Seeds of Discord Among Brothers
This excerpt from the book explains the varied feedback one gets when you ask Wasakulu about KENIFINCO. In some parts of Western Kenya, the work done by KENIFINCO to date remains the only way a community ever got water. 50 years after independence and 5 years of devolution. To find examples, think of far flung areas like Malakisi, Bukhokolo, Butonge areas and Kiminini/Tongaren in Bungoma and Trans Nzoia counties. In some areas, particularly in Busia, Kenya; the bitterness over KENIFINCO is real: broken promises, abandonment and shattered dreams.
Some of the Wasakulu I spoke to even point at the mismanagement of the KENIFINCO project as being responsible for some of the divisions between the people of Mulembe Nation. KENIFINCO led to the development of some areas, while its dramatic folding up without warning entrenched marginalization in some areas of Mulembe Nation.
Tracing the Roots of the Name Kefinco Reveals the Long Battle, Not Yet Won, of Developing Western Kenya
I kid you not, KENIFINCO was a big project. Probably the biggest ever initiated by a government in Mulembe Nation. To grasp the magnitude, we are aided by Kenya National Assembly Official Record (Hansard) Oct 8 – Dec 11, 1985. Note that it is here that the name Kefinco emerges. In this Q&A in parliament, Dr Mango sought to know why the government had failed to honor it’s part of the agreement with Finland by delaying the release of funds.
Dr Mango asked the Minister for Water Development (a) whether he was aware that the Government had refused to pay Kefinco to support the West Kenya Rural Water Project …….(answering) The Minister of Water Development (Mr Ngei): Mr speaker, Sir, I beg to reply ……(b) The Ministry has received claims of 21, 393, 908 of which shs 21,124, 734 has been paid….(in light of protests from Dr Mango of government’s dragging of feet over the matter, Mr Ngei explained that )Dr Mango having been a Minister in the Government, knows what involves a project which is as big as this one…
Update 24th June 2017: Did the butchery persevere? is Finland still a brother to kakamega? What’s hot in kefinco
I remain curious about this business simply because I admire the proprietor’s zeal in capturing market share. Without doubt, he is a smart businessman. Like any good businessman, the entrepreneur takes advantage of any marketing opportunity to gain market share. On that Champions League night, there was a price offer for all the prime cuts. I remember that night I bought some matumbo as I had recently started dating this Bunyore girl who knew had to make good use of munyu musherekha. But that’s a story for another day.
This picture was taken circa 2012-13. Though the lone butchery in Kefinco might not still exist thanks to the natural rapid evolution of urban centers-a real possibility here following the increased urbanization of Kakamega town in devolution era Kenya. The spirit of innovation displayed in the marketing gimmicks employed by this entrepreneur belays the intricate history of MMUST and Kefinco. The picture’s 1000 words are as a result of it freezing a moment in time, thus allowing for comparison with today.
In this spirit of comparison, might I ask: What is the current price for a kilo of beef in your neighborhood?
The fledgling MMUST Finland Partnership
I had a friend who attended MMUST School of Nursing just about the time of the picture. She talked of some exchange program with Finland. Before digging up the history of Kefinco, I always wondered why Finland. Today, I wonder if the partnership is still on. An entry in the MMUST website talks of “DIAL hosted students on exchange program from OULU Polytechnic University-FINLAND for the first semester programme beginning August 2010. MMUST has an active MOU with University of Oulu, faculty of Medicine. The collaboration aims at promoting Inter-Professional team education on public health”.
Anyone with more recent information should feel free to share and help build this historical text on one of Kakamega’s most famous neighborhoods: Kefinco and economically important installations: MMUST. On the Finnish side, there is talk of a partnership on information sharing in education over 2013-2015 period.
Where to stay in Kefinco: Accommodation and Hotels.
In spite of it’s proximity to Kakamega town, Kefinco hosts less than it’s fair share of hotels. Primarily a residential area, its ‘lack’ of accommodation facilities might be tied to presence of relics of KENIFINCO (the estate). Nonetheless, the famous Sheywe Guest House offers a home for the less nit-picky visitors.
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