Once again I urge Migori Leaders to work toward bring a university to Migori Town.
They can start with upgrading Migori TTC to a campus of Rongo University, from where it can scale to a university college and then to a fully-fledged university.
Many towns in Kenya are being anchored on host universities, fueling new demands for housing for students and staff; as well as other social amenities.
The local Kenya National Chamber of Commerce has just succeeded in lobbying South Eastern Kenya University (SEKU) to move more than 700 students to Wote Town from its Kwa Vonza Main Campus.
The City of Eldoret is being anchored by Moi University, University of Eldoret, Rift Valley TTI, and a host of other learning and training institutions. The ‘student population’ in Eldoret has brought the city billions of shillings in both capitations and recurrent expenditures.
One of Mwai Kibaki’s less discussed legacy is the massification of higher learning. Go to Central Kenya. Any town with more than 10,000 residents in Central today has a fully-fledged university institution.
Luo Nyanza got a raw deal because characters like the late Prof. Magoha, who believed UoN should not expand to ‘small towns’, sat in their high offices in Nairobi sneering at those who made such suggestions.
I was at Kanga High School when nearby Kitere TTI was upgraded to “Rongo Campus” of Moi University. By the time I joined Moi University itself, the Rongo campus had been upgraded to a university college with the then Moi University DVC Prof. Gudu sent there as the Principal of the new college.
The immense benefit that has come to that region as a result of that foresight cannot be overstretched. Rongo will be forced to have another campus in Rongo Town, or maybe it’s already there.
I have no problem with the training of P1 teachers but the economic benefits that accrue from Migori TTC to Migori Town is meager, yet the TTC occupies such a strategic location. Time to move it to Lichota, and upgrade.
TTCs are like elevated secondary schools. Trainees eat in college dining halls, wear uniforms, and are monitored like kids. Bringing food from outside is a crime. Rarely do they engage on a daily basis with the economy of the host towns. A university has no such abhorrent limitations.
TTCs receive very little capitation compared to universities. It is no wonder Migori TTC has not expanded infrastructurally since the 2000s when some of us were school kids at the nearby Migori Primary.
The reason the town has not invested – for example – on hostel accommodation is because there has been no need for hostels.
New businesses that currently operate at below par will thrive once ‘comrades’ enter the town’s economy, buying all sorts of things, from lingeries to “weed”.
LPGs, M-Pesa, Taxi services, Hotels, Chemists, Clubs, Boutiques, Supermarkets, Banks, Wines & Spirits, Churches, Malls, Coffeehouses, Bookstores will all get onboarded. Even boat riding on Migori River will be a booming business, catering for students from Ukambani who’ve never seen water and gikmakamago!
Towns like Migori with no industrial base can only thrive on the strength of their service sectors.
If the South is to progress, the South needs practical leaders with their gaze firmly on the future.
