Public recreation facilities needed in rural towns

If during the last holiday break you went to your rural home to rest and reconnect with family but found yourself spending most of the time at home or in a social place – read bar – then you will appreciate the great disservice to which the national and county governments are subjecting their citizens.

Adult recreation in most towns outside Nairobi and to a limited extent Mombasa has been narrowed to alcohol, nyama choma and Premier League football.

Children are dragged along to restaurants that have swimming pools or children’s playing spaces (usually having a bouncy castle and a slider).

Non-drinkers just have to be creative and amuse themselves with something.

The lack of well-tended public recreation places is another disappointing failure of our leaders.

NO RECREATIONAL PLACES

The irony is that in many towns, these facilities existed but have been converted into private investments or are so dilapidated they pose a real danger to visitors.

Take Trans Nzoia County for example. There used to be a theatre for artistes to perform in. This is now a bar and has been for a while.

There is a nature walk and a museum that truly are in an abysmal state. There are no public spaces at all in the town as what was intended to be has been taken over by markets and kiosks.

So, families that visit the county (as they often do during the December break) crowd at Kitale Club, itself in need of major renovations.

They can’t go to the nature walk nor the museum. There is no theatre to go listen to carols or watch performances. The one national reserve in the county – the Saiwa Game Reserve – is decrepit and a walk in its once-pristine nature trail now is a hazard.

Kakamega County will not offer much either as the Kakamega Forest Reserve has been left to atrophy.

The facilities there are hardly sufficient for a sizeable crowd and indigenous trees are being felled ferociously.

There is no public park provided and maintained by the county.

Kisumu may claim it has the Ruma Park, but where can families just go for a stroll knowing that they are in a safe place where children can frolic freely?

WATER SPORTS

Where are the water sports that one expects should be a key attraction in the town sitting on the shores of Lake Victoria?

Kisii and Nyamira are equally pathetic and lack of space cannot be used as an excuse.

There is plenty of riparian space next to the river that runs through Kisii town that can be converted into a splendid public park.

Nyamira has space in the town on which a public park can be built. West Pokot County has been unable to improve its one key attraction — the historic facility in which Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and other freedom fighters were detained.

I can go on and on – Bomet, Kericho, Nakuru and Taita-Taveta don’t do well at all.

WASTELAND

Nakuru used to have a go-karting circuit in the Langa Langa area. That is now wasteland.

Machakos County stands out for its investment in the People’s Park – an impressive facility that continues to live up to its name by providing a safe haven for families and visitors to relax in clean and safe surroundings.

The coastal towns have the advantage of water and beaches but a lot more investments need to be put into public facilities.

Despite the controversy that dogged its construction, the recently opened Mama Ngina Waterfront in Mombasa is a tremendous addition to the facilities that are available for residents and visitors.

Our leaders in the counties must start demonstrating care. They do not lead sheep.

They lead human beings who desire and deserve an improved quality of life. The leaders also need to be entrepreneurial and invite private money to supplement public resources.

Tom Mshindi is the former editor-in-chief of the Nation Group and is now consulting. [email protected], @tmshindi