A BIRD'S EYE AT NAMBALE CONSTITUENCY

BACKGROUND: Busia District Profile

Busia District is one of the districts comprised in Western Province, Kenya. Butere Mumias District borders it to the east, Bungoma District to the north east, Teso District to the north, Siaya District to the south east, Bondo District to the south and the Republic of Uganda to the west. The District of over 600,000 people covers an area of 1,261.3 square kilometers, 137 square kilometers of which is under permanent water surface - Lake Victoria. The mean annual rainfall for the district is 1500mm with most parts of the district receiving between 1,270mm and 1,790mm. During the long rains, crops such as maize, sorghum, sweet potatoes, soya beans, cowpeas, green grams and beans are grown in most parts of the district. Though not highly practiced, the land can grow quick maturing crops such as kales, simsim and sunflower, as well as, long-term crops such as sugarcane, robusta coffee, cassava, avocados, oranges, and bananas. The district is further subdivided into 5 administrative divisions namely, Butula, Nambale, Matayos, Funyula and Budalangi.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Nambale constituency in Busia district is one of the underdeveloped areas and according to World Food Program report for 2005, the area has higher prevalence of HIV/AIDS and 36% of its citizen lives in “hardcore poverty”, a condition where food needs cannot be met even when a family’s expenditure is entirely on food. The level of “absolute poverty” (i.e. in ability to meet basic food and non-food needs) is estimated at 54%. Generally schools within the area have very little infrastructure for learning. On community level, inadequate information, inaccessible tools and skills to fight poverty as well as generational cycles of poverty have for so long suppressed individual’s innovativeness, creativity and entrepreneurship potential. The community has determined farmers with no access to crucial farming technology and entrepreneurs with inadequate information on their trade. The sum of all these challenges is forcing young people, the active work-force, to migrate to the cities disrupting the community’s civic commitment and scuttling hopes for community development.

KEY PERSONS

Hon. Amos Wako – Attorney General, Republic of Kenya
Hon. Chris Okemo – MP, Nambale Constituency
Mr. Philip J.W. Masinde – Former MP, Nambale Constituency
Mr. Sakwa Bunyasi – Retired employee of World Bank & 2007 Parliamentary Aspirant (Nambale Constituency)
Mrs.Lydiah A.Achode- High Court Registrar
Retired Rev. Canon Ngota – A.C.K Church, Busende Parish
Engineer Dan Barasa – Ministry of Water Resource and Development.
Mr. Nyongesa Wandera – University of Nairobi (Student), Coordinator (Students for Rural Community Development), Moderator (Bukhayo Youth Action)
(Please feel free to give us more names of prominent personalities from Nambale Constituency)
PROJECT RECOMENDATIONS

Regeneration of the Nambale Cotton Ginnery
Revival of Matayo’s Youth Polytechnic
Development of Busende Secondary School
Setting up of a Tertiary Learning Institution in the District
Development of the Nambale Sugar Factory
The establishment of the Nambale University

(Thanks to Henry Victor Okumu for the research and compilation of this information)