Muhuru-Bay: Village town that supplies Nairobi’s fish is ‘dying’

A lot of fish; tilapia, ngege and omena, eaten in Nairobi comes from this quiet village, hidden at the farthest corner of Kenya like an unwanted child.

Muhuru-Bay is in Migori county, slightly more than 400 kilometres from Nairobi. Travelling from Nairobi, it takes roughly nine hours to get to this town located on the shores of Lake Victoria.

A bus ride from Nairobi will take you back roughly Sh2,100 – and that’s only one person.

According to the residents, it’s hard to even know the village exists, given its location just at the border of Kenya and Tanzania.

Muhuru-Bay is originally inhabited by the Suba speaking community – and just recently was made headquarters of the newly created Nyatike South Sub-county.

The problem, according to the residents who spoke to Wananchi Reporting, is that the beautiful town is ‘dying’ because it has no tarmac road.

This is despite the fact that the area boasts of the famous stone age caves, rocky hills, an expansive lake view and a beautiful view of the famous Migingo island.

Residents say that the once promising town is fast losing its glory to neighbouring towns – all of whom have had their roads tarmacked thereby revamping trade.

Though currently a cosmopolitan town, Muhuru-Bay is originally inhabited by the Suba speaking community.

Many believe that their relatively small number, coupled by the fact that the town is at the farthest end of Kenya – only nosing Tanzania along the Lake Victoria – is the reason they may have been forgotten.

“This area was recently elevated to a Sub-county, but we don’t have tarmac roads. It has been like this since the colonial times,” said Otimbo Bageni, a resident of Muhuru.

According to the residents, the continuous absence of a good road has denied a region that has been producing tons of fish a chance to grow and flourish.

“Our town borders Tanzania, but we don’t even have a tarmacked road yet we have the Kenya Revenue offices right at the border,” he says.

“Other towns bordering the Lake Victoria like Sori, Sindo, Kindu-Bay, Mbita, Kisumu have tarmac roads, but not Muhuru-Bay,” wondered Otimbo Bageni, a resident of Muhuru.

The region has very beautiful scenery which can help promote touring, residents say.

“Most of the fish currently being eaten in Nairobi come from here, but the bad road is making business cost unbearable,” said Mama Eunice, a fishmonger.

There is a running joke that many residents would travel to Migori town, 43 kilometers away, to go see and take pictures on the tarmac.

“You children and people who have never left this village have never seen a tarmac, only in books or on television,” says Steve Agombi, also a resident.

Some of the residents feel that their region has been neglected by politicians – despite it being an important business hub.

The residents want the major road linking Muhuru-bay to Migori and Sori tarmacked.