Before 1990s, Kiganjo town in Nyeri County, was a vibrant industrial satellite town with companies that made turnovers worth hundreds of millions of shillings in a year.
It hosted many industries among them a matchbox industry, Eliot’s bread company and a chilli processing plant. It was also home to the then vibrant Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC), a railway line passed through it with a railway station to boot while business boomed as a result of high population.
But today, the Kiganjo town is a pale shadow of its former self. The premises that hosted industries and other establishments are today either deserted and idle or converted into residential houses or places of worship.
However, this could change following the start of the rehabilitation of the old railway line, this week, that will too, lead to the rejuvenation of other railway towns like Sagana in Kirinyaga County.
Only about ten percent of premises that once housed booming businesses such as shops, food kiosks and refreshment sites are in operation while the rest remain closed.
The Kiganjo Post Office is no longer operational; the market was deserted and today is a resting place for idlers, livestock, poultry and pets like dogs left to roam.
The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) which then stocked grains such as wheat grown in the neighbouring Kieni constituency now stores relief food and government subsidized fertilizer.
An open air market that was being constructed under the Economic Stimulus Program (ESP) also stalled halfway in what residents attributed to corruption and lack of follow-up by their elected leaders.
Located only eight kilometers from Nyeri town, Kiganjo which is a stone’s throw away from Kiganjo Police Training College is the only satellite town that had a sewer line in the county.
Kiganjo has an additional 40 acres for new industries
According to Brian Githinji, popularly known as Techno Githinji, who grew up in Kiganjo, it was mapped as an industrial town with about 40 acres of land reserved for expansion of industries.
“KCC was operating optimally and did butter, yoghurt and ghee among other milk by-products, received and processed a lot of fresh milk and employed more than 200 people. But now it is also a pale shadow of its former self,” says Githinji.
The Ministry of Works depot at Kiganjo was also closed down while the biggest timber yard in Central Kenya, Mbau Sawmill, that used to ferry timber to Nairobi through the railway line is now operating at a very low level.
Residents are of the opinion that since the town sits on the proposed Great Northern Road and has very high potential; both the national and county governments should get investors to utilize the utilities.
“Since it has ample land purely mapped for industries and is the only satellite town with sewer line system, a hospital, a police station and is well planned, it can employ a lot of people directly and indirectly if it only gets a minimum of five industries,” Githinji observes.
Kiganjo town businesses find it hard to pay taxes
Traders say they are unable to pay licenses due to lack of business and lament that the defunct Nyeri Municipal Council demanded land rates, charges and levies similar to other towns with better services. The same was perpetuated by the county government when it came into being.
The industries collapsed in 1990s after the introduction of multiparty democracy when Central region was neglected by the then government as area residents were largely opposition followers.
William Wanjau, 79, a cobbler who has lived in Kiganjo since 1974 witnessed the rise and fall of the town. He says business plummeted when people left the town as industries collapsed.
“NCPB used to buy grains and was filled with wheat. People from the neighboring Kieni Constituency used to deliver their wheat harvest here,” he recalls vividly.
He witnessed when cargo was delivered to and from the area through the railway line and when all other industries were operational.
Thousands of people were employed by the industries, the railway had tens of its employees while goods from the then East African Industries were delivered through the railway and coffee transported to Nairobi auction through the same line.
“KCC collected milk not only from Nyeri but also from neighbouring counties of Laikipia, Kirinyaga, Meru, Embu among other counties in Central region,” he recalls with nostalgia.
Like Githinji, Wanjau is also of the view that the government should provide incentives to investors and a conducive environment for doing business to attract investors and revive the industries restoring the Kiganjo town’s former glory.
He says now that the county government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the national government for construction of 2,000 housing units, at least 200 of them should be put up in Kiganjo.
The industrial town can play a great role in the success of two of the government’s ‘Big Four’ agenda, housing and manufacturing due to the availability of land for construction of residential houses and industries.
Githinji says since the cost of labour is generally behind the death of industries in the country, some mobile service providers should consider opening their call centers in the town.
Beverages and food processing industries can also set-up shops in the area due to the availability of water, space and raw materials.
“The availability of quarries around Kiganjo can also come in handy in making of building materials,” says Githinji.