Taita-Taveta: Home of spectacular sceneries

Taita-Taveta County comprises five constituencies namely, Wundanyi, Mwatate, Voi and Taveta.
It boasts of the expansive and world-renowned Tsavo National Park and the picturesque Taita hills—both spectacular tourist attractions in the coastal region.
Other attraction sites include Lakes Challa and Jipe that straddle the Kenya-Tanzania border, and Mzima Springs.
Commercial activities include agriculture, fishing, dairying, ranching, mining, bee keeping, and large-scale sisal farming.
Mwatate MP Calist Mwatela has proposed that the county be divided into four zones according to the resources and potential available in each of the four constituencies.
According to Mwatela, Taveta’s agricultural potential should be tapped and turned into the county’s food basket while dairy and horticultural activities should be strengthened in Wundanyi.
In Voi and Mwatate focus should be on mining and ranching activities, respectively.
Voi town has remained the region’s commercial hub. It has well developed infrastructure compared to other urban centres in the county and it has registered rapid growth in the past few years. It boasts of an airstrip and is also the gateway to Tsavo, making it potentially suitable for tourism related activities.
The county’s headquarters is yet to be identified and sharp differences have already emerged between leaders over where to locate it.
Current and former MPs, councillors and other stakeholders have not agreed where Taita-Taveta headquarters should be.
Northern corridor
Mwatate MP Calist Mwatela and his Voi counterpart Dan Mwazo have already declared Voi town as the ideal place for the county headquarters, while Wundanyi MP Thomas Mwadeghu says he is still consulting with his constituents over the issue.
MPs and councillors in the region have organised a stakeholders meeting to deliberate on the matter.
Mwatela, the Education assistant minister, thinks Voi is the most ideal place to put up the headquarters as the town is strategically located along the busy Nairobi-Mombasa highway that is part of the Northern Corridor.
The assistant minister however says politicians should stop arguing over the issue and instead concentrate on other important issues affecting the people in the county.
Taveta Council of Elders spokesman Nahashon Mkunde concurs with Mwatela and Mwazo’s views that Voi is better placed to be the seat of the county government owing to its accessibility and improved infrastructure compared to other towns in the region.
"If Taita leaders fail to agree on the location of the headquarters then we should bring it to Taveta town where there’s also vast land.
We’ve about 13,000 acres of land, which the Government bought from National Bank of Kenya, which is still lying idle and, which can accommodate the headquarters," says Mkunde.
But former Mwatate MP Major (Rtd) Marsden Madoka and former ambassador Mwabili Kisaka differ.
Unnecesary divisions
Madoka, a former Cabinet minister, said MPs should not impose headquarters on the locals.
"There should be wider consultations among relevant stakeholders regarding the issue to avert unnecessary divisions.
"Politicians who have vested interests want to hijack the issue and should let Taita and Taveta communities sit and decide on the headquarters, among other issues," says Madoka.
Mwabili said Wundanyi should be made the county headquarters as infrastructure is already in place.
"Wundanyi town, having been the headquarters of the larger Taita-Taveta District since colonial days, has many Government offices, which should be used as county headquarters," said Kisaka.


Source: The Standard