We call market

We call it market
A mixture of non complete storey buildings scattered in a bushy environment and several mud walled rooms oh! ‘rental shops’ spread around, public land in the middle and at the peripherals of the market; a primary school, catholic church, polytechnic and the flowery Rongo university college in that order. The market covers a space of around one hundred square meters. Kitere market, located in a highest point of the hill famous for its small scale gold mining.
Despite the huge population presence in the hill from the university and the many institutions in the area, the market has refused to let go of its old ways and embrace development quickly spare for a few established ones.
Water they call it life. Here if you live in this market you have to acknowledge it’s a problem, we depend on borehole water for doing everything clean water to drink is a problem. One has to wake early in the morning to make it to the borehole before basins ‘queue’ to quench their thirst (filled with water). The lack of piped water can be attributed to the terrain it’s hostile with many steep valleys and the fact that it’s located in an hill justifies it all
The landlords’ here are arrogant the high demand for accommodation houses both for students and residents has made it easy for them to set and manipulate rent rates at will. The least priced hostel per semester is eight thousands five hundred shillings. Here it’s mandatory to live alone because you have to dig deeper into your limited pocket money and get away with four to five thousand per month for a single room which is not fair even to parents leave alone us.
The shop keepers knows nothing but business for instance despite the presence of Sony sugar company three miles away a kg of sugar cost one hundred and twenty shillings whereas a person living in meru buys the same at ninety shillings in regardless of a sugar company. This is just an example almost all the commodities sold in this market are inflated in pricing.
All these challenges are eye opener to investors, there is plenty f opportunities in this place we call market. The demand for hostels is ever increasing overnight, supermarkets to not exploit us if no subsidy cybercafés with high speed internet, serious stationers and even building companies because there is huge development opportunity within.
I would like also the Migori county government to step up and awaken this sleeping giant, by starting from the ground; help clear bushes, garbage collection and sewerage.
Writer: Lawrence Mugendi
Student at Rongo university studying
BSc in communication and public relations.