The three occasions I have visited Funyula in Busia County have left a lasting impression on me. Funyula Sub-County is on the furthest western end of Kenya on Lake Victoria that shares a border with Uganda.
Some of the famous families that hail from them include the Aworis, the Okondos, the Ojaamongs and the Wakos. The Aworis has several world and national leaders, who include former Vice-President Moody Awori, former presidential candidate and ex-Cabinet minister in Uganda, Aggrey Awori and the founder of Makini Schools, Mary Okello.
Other prominent personalities are the late former Cabinet Minister Peter Habenga Okondo, Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong, the son of former MP Ojamaa Ojaamong, and Busia Senator Amos Wako, who made history as the longest-serving Attorney-General, and Hillary Ng’weno, first Kenyan Editor-in-Chief of Nation Newspapers in early 1960s, and founder, director and publisher of Weekly Review.
My first visit to the hilly lakeside region was in 1994, when I went to cover then President Daniel arap Moi and other Kanu leaders at a harambee (funds drive) at Funyula trading centre for a women’s group.
The 107-kilometre ride in a Nation Media Group Kisumu Bureau car driven Mohamed Hussein, a Nubian, with photographer Baraka Karama, a Luo who was a Muslim, was long, dusty and breathtaking going through Maseno, Luanda, Yala, Ugunja, Sega, and turning left to Funyula Township at Bumala Trading Centre, nearly 20 kilometres from Busia Town.
The contrast was amazing as the densely populated areas like in Emuyaha Constituency, the agriculturally productive Gem constituency; the mighty rivers Yala and Nzoia flowing from the highlands to Lake Victoria; and the different languages spoken along the way by Luos, Banyore sub-tribe of the Luhya (There are 18 of them).
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Our car caught up with the presidential convoy at Bumala, where there was a huge crowd of Kanu leaders and supporters waiting to welcome the Head of State to Busia District.
Among the leaders was long-serving Assistant Minister and Busia Kanu chairman Moody Awori, Cabinet ministers, top civil servants from the region and all Members of Parliament and civic leaders, as was the practice then.
The Western Provincial Commissioner was on the queue, as the presidential appointee and eyes and ears of the President in political, social and economic issues of the region.
The PC had a red telephone strategically placed in his office and official residence reserved for direct calls from his boss. The hilarious rumor doing the rounds then was that all Cabinet Ministers, PCs and District Commissioners had to stand and answer the phone whenever it rang as they saluted!
As the KANU chairman, Moody had the privilege to stand at the beginning of the queueing politicians led by Cabinet ministers and then civic leaders, as they waited to be introduced and to shake the hand of the Kanu national chairman one by one.
So on that material day, all protocols were observed as the President arrived in one of the biggest convoys I had ever seen as the new Kisumu Bureau Chief on this field trip. After shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries, traditional dancers put their foot forward, followed by several primary and secondary school choirs to entertain the President, who danced with some of them briefly before entering his sleek Mercedes Benz 600 limousine and being driven to Funyula.
The convoy made several stops at small trading centres and schools along the dusty road, which was lined with big crowds of men, women and children. At every stop, he acknowledged the greetings by waving his rod, better known as ‘the Nyayo Rungu,’ at them from the roof top of the limo; and handing over cash and/or envelopes to their to their leaders.
On arrival at the harambee venue, we met a fully charged crowd of Maendeleo Ya Wanawake leaders and members waiting anxiously for the Head of State. Traditional dancers, school and college choirs milled around as they practised their songs and dance for the big event in anticipation of the guest of honour.
Finally, when the President arrived, security officers ensured that the venue was secured and the public and dignitaries were ushered to their allocated places. The smartly-dressed Kenya Police Band was strategically seated near the presidential dais to play the National Anthem at the beginning and at the end of the State function in addition to light music during the function.
However, before the National Anthem was played, one of the security officers hoisted the National Flag side by side with the presidential standard, which were unveiled when the President arrived. The next phase was for the KANU chairman to welcome the chief guest, introduce him to the Ministers, MPs and civic leaders before allowing him to address the rally and lead the funds drive.
In his brief speech, Awori, who was the local MP, showered Moi with praise, as was expected of him, for his development record, love of children by holding harambees to build schools and being God-fearing by attending church every Sunday and supporting church harambees across the country.
The Funyula MP, who was in his element dressed in his brown cowboy hat, black suit, red shirt and Kanu tie, then pleaded with the President: “Please give us a district like you have done elsewhere for the Suba in South Nyanza District. My people, the Samias, are totally loyal to you, Your Excellency. and they are only requesting you to give them a district so that development can be brought closer to them.”
In those days, a KANU chairman was more powerful than a Cabinet Minister. As Awori spoke, the CMs listened intently, lest he said something bad about them that the President would use to show them the door.
But when Moi stood up to speak, he cleared his voice, as usual, and reminded the Luhya that: “I know you better than you know yourself”. He then told off Awori in public saying he would not create districts for the sake of it; the Samia were a small sub-tribe of the Luhya did not deserve to get a district.”
The President conducted the harambee for the women’s group and left for lunch at Moody’s tree-lined beautiful residence on a hill, a stone’s throw away. But as we got near to Awori’s main gate, we were shocked by giant suspended concrete structures built in form of tea cups. On asking the residents, we were informed that they were an Israeli-supported project to introduce fish-farming in the region.
In the afternoon, the KANU chairman had another engagement at the home of AG Amos Wako. He officially opened a multimillion-shilling residence on Nang’oma Hill at Matayos near Busia town on the Kenya-Uganda border. During refreshments, one of the presidential guards was overheard saying that they had to go for etiquette eating training: “We were taught three things. When you are with mdosi (your boss) you eat fast so that when he asks you a question, you don’t have food in your mouth. We were also taught to ensure we finish our food before the boss so that when he stands to leave, you’re not left behind eating.”
The following day, the President went to open a Kanu office in Busia Town in a building owned by Mr Awori. The project was controversial also because the site was on the left side of the highway to Uganda, which was claimed by the Teso, who accused the Bakhayo and Samia of encroaching on their ancestral land. Moi ignored their “petty politics” and proceeded to open the office as Moody Awori and his supporters cheered and danced along.
Fast forward to 2013, I was back in Funyula, but this time as a friend of my former News Editor, Frank Ojiambo, at Nation Centre, Nairobi, who had lost a son. We went to his burial.
The drive from Kisumu to Funyula was much smoother and more interesting in the company of a cousin, Vincent Odhiambo Nyagaya, and a brother-in-law, Bernard Okello, as the roads had been expanded and tarmacked.
We arrived at Bumala junction at sundown and found the area had developed, with many permanent storied buildings. My friend urged us to spend the night at his home and not in a hotel. We obliged and joined him with his wife, Mary, and children, most of whom had flown in from the United States where they went to college, got jobs and settled.
The night was something else after dinner as the villagers turned the place into a disco matanga, dancing, drinking, smoking weed, among other vices. We withdrew into our car and slept after watching the men, women and children dancing the night away.
The following day, my cousin, in-law and I went on a joy ride to Sio Port, the last township before the Ugandan border. We took may beautiful photos there of the open lake, fishing and lovely scenery of hills, village life and new developments.
I was shocked to see a number of canoes ferrying passengers freely across the border, one was slumped on his back and looked dead. When I asked the fishermen and women, they told me they were ferrying the sick man to Sio Port dispensary.
Said one of the fishermen: “It is normal to cross the border in a canoe: We have no problem. The Ugandans believe we have better health facilities while we love their waragi (traditional brew) and women!”
We then returned to the home and joined our friend and his family in the requiem Mass. The local MP, and his rival, made a technical appearance and made speeches before leaving to attend other funerals, as was the practice on the eve of an election.
The solemn occasion was well-organized and by 2pm, the programme was concluded.
We then had an opportunity to drive to the Awori home, some five kilometers away to condole with them following the burial of one of their older siblings, Joshua.
I met Moody and most of his siblings, led by Aggrey Awori, who had travelled from his home in Uganda, where he was once an MP. Others in the home whom I recognised and knew personally were one of his sisters, Mary Okello, and niece Susan Ouya, who was a member of our Nairobi Baptist Church, Ngong Road.
On returning to the Ojiambo home in the evening, we had a special invitation from lawyer Frank Ojiambo, no relation to Frank, to visit and have dinner with his elderly mother in the neighbourhood.
We obliged and enjoyed the break and opportunity to touch base with Fred, who is a mentor. His parents were neighbours and friends of my parents during the days of East African Railways and Harbours Corporation in Nairobi. They were neighbours at Landi Muthurwa.
But on returning to Fred’s home, we found the whole village back. The crowd was bigger than the one that had attended the funeral of his son. Indeed, it was a nightmare as the youthful villagers literally took over the home and demanded that the disco matanga continues the whole night.
Attempts by Frank to reason with them were futile, as they insisted that: “Don’t try to stop us. We are here to mourn our brother according to Samia culture!” By then the disc jockey was playing loud music and the dance ground was a free for all, for elderly women and men together with the younger boys and girls.
Boda boda (motorbike taxi operators) had a field day as they transported youth to the venue, while others kept using their cell phones to call others over. It was crazy, for lack of a better word.
My friend got worked up and telephoned the chief and Administration Police boss, who raided the home and dispersed the “mourners”, who sped off, threatening to stone the house and the vehicles parked there. But thank God, the law enforcers acted in time and peace and calm was restored, allowing us to enjoy a well-deserved sleep from 10pm.
Fast forward to 2018.
My third trip to Funyula was to attend another family friend, Julia Omale Atemi’s father’s funeral, and a few kilometres from Frank Ojiambo’s home. This time around, I drove from Nairobi together with my wife, Rosemary, and made a stopover at our Fort Ternan home in Muhoroni Constituency in Kisumu Country for the night before resuming the journey at crack of dawn.
We arrived at 9am. Just in time for the funeral Mass to begin at a primary school ground opposite their home. There, we met scores of our media colleagues including veteran editor Dorothy Kweyu.
The programme was well-organised with short speeches and very few politicians present. We were through by 2pm. Ready for a light lunch at the Omale home and departure. The weather was fine so we were spared the heavy rains and muddy roads along the way.
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