A detention camp at Lokitaung town in Turkana County where founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and other political detainees were held.
Located some 210 kilometers north of Turkana County is the once-famous Lokitaung town.
This is one of the historical towns in Kenya because it housed a detention camp where founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and other members of the Kapenguria six were held.
Detained alonsisde Kenyatta, were Bildad Kagia, Ramogi Achieng Oneko, Kung'u Karumba, Paul Ngei, and Fred Kubai after they were jailed for seven years with hard labour by the colonial government.
The remote town nesteled by scenic hills is dotted with old buildings whose owners have not spared money on painting or repair works.
Heshima Tree, one of the oldest hotels in Lokitaung, doesn't have air-conditioned rooms due to unreliable power supply.
According to James Ekamar, a resident of Lokitaung, storing fresh products like meat, vegetables, fish, and fruits is a challenge in the town due to the high cost of maintaining refrigerators, as only a handful of residents can afford a standby generator.
"Butchery operators, hoteliers, public offices, schools, and hospitals have suffered serious losses due to unreliable power supply," Mr Ekamar said.
The old detention camp comprises cells, study rooms, toilets, and houses for prison warders.
However, the cells now appear modern and many visitors struggle to relate them to a historic detention camp.
There have been calls by area residents for the restoration of the detention camp with all the original artefacts, tools, and writings to make it a tourist, historical, and educational site.
Heshima Tree hotel in Lokitaung town.
"Some visitors only spend a few hours in the town never to return having spend many hours on transit only get to see the buildings and limited information to take home," said Ms Alice Akeno, a resident.
Ms Akeno said suggested that villagers who worked as cooks duing the detention of the freedom fighters should also be housed at the site and their experience documented.
Similarly, government offices in the town are in a sorry state. A few meters from the detention camp is an abandoned post office building which now lies in ruins.
A dense thicket of thorny Prosopis Juliflora surrounds the building that is about 10 meters from the tarmac road.
The letter delivery section of the post office whose code number is 30504, has 100 green-colored boxes that are all locked up.
There is also a vandalised telephone booth, whose original red colour has turned brownish.
A satellite mast, with a receiver and two antennas, is still intact and stands out from the thicket.
Mr Ebenyo Lowosa said many traders in the town have been driven out of business.
"To attract more visitors to our town, I appeal to the National Museums of Kenya and county government to not only concentrate on preserving structures at the site but also to categorized them as historical sites with an on-site curator," he added.
He said the museum would attract people to the town which can either be accessed either via the Lodwar-Lokichoggio highway of the Lodwar-Kalokol road.
