Visit Kitui

PERFECT PLACE FOR YOUR NEXT VACATION

About Kitui

Kitui town is the district headquarters of Kitui County and is located on latitudes  1° 22′ 0″ South, 38° 1′ 0″ East. The town is connected to other parts of the country through a network of roads. Such roads include the national trunk road from Nairobi and Machakos and regional road from Thika and Kibwezi.

1.) Mwingi North with a total population of 139,967 comprises of five Wards that is Ngomeni (pop. 18, 447), Kyuso (pop.40, 375), Mumoni (pop.32, 171), Tseikuru (pop.35, 890), and Tharaka (pop.13, 084).

2.) Mwingi East with a total population 122,361 comprises of five  Wards that is Kivou (pop.24, 886), Nguni (pop.29, 313), Nuu (pop.27, 644), Mui (pop.19, 628), and Waita (pop.20, 890).

3.) Mwingi West with a total population of 122,620 comprises of five Wards that isKyome/Thaana (pop.22, 443), Nguutani (pop.27265), Migwani (pop.28, 169), Kiomo/Kyethani (pop.21, 000), and Mwingi Central (pop.23, 743).

4.) Kitui West with a total population of 102,314 comprises of four Wards that is Mutonguni (pop.34, 140), Kauwi (pop.25, 385), Matinyani (pop.24, 081), and Kwamutonga/Kithumula (pop.18, 708).

5.) Kitui Central with a total population of 131,715 comprises of five Wards that is Miambani (pop.22, 164), Township (pop.26, 016), Kyangwithya West (pop.22, 121), Mulango (pop.28, 573) and Kyangwithya East (pop.32, 841).

6.) Kitui Rural with a total population of 104,443 comprises of four Wards that is Kisasi (pop.26, 759), Mbitini (pop.24, 858), Kwavonza/Yatta (pop.30, 732), and Kanyangi (pop.22, 094).

7.) Kitui East with a total population of 123,239 comprises of six Wards that is Zombe/Mwitika (pop.25, 452), Nzambani (pop.18, 126), Chuluni (pop.22, 046), Voo/Kyamatu (pop.23, 011), Endau/Malalani (pop.15, 506), and Mutitu/Kaliku (pop.15,506).

8.) Kitui South with a total population of 166,050 comprises of six Wards that is Ikanga/Kyatune (pop.36, 185), Mutomo (pop.24, 450), Mutha (pop.25, 138), Ikutha (pop.26, 176), Kanziko (18,664) and Athi (pop.35, 437).

Two constituencies were added during the 2012 IEBC delimitation of constituency and Ward boundaries.

Registered Voters: 351,800 (As per 2010 Registration; this number is expected to be over 400,000 by 2012).
Kitui registered voters as a percentage of National total: 2.8%.

Current Administrative Districts as at May 2012: 16 (Kitui Central, Katulani, Kisasi, Mutomo, Ikutha, Muumoni, Tseikuru, Kyuso, Mwingi Central, Migwani, Mwingi East, Kitui West, Matinyani, Lower Yatta, Nzambani, and Mutito).

History of Kitui County
Local people are mostly of the Akamba tribe. According to most sources, the Kamba, who were hunters at the time, arrived in present-day Machakos from south of Mt Kilimanjaro around 1600 and eventually settled permanently in the Mbooni Hills. Here they first became consolidated as a separate people and turned increasingly to agriculture. Eventually, overcrowding forced a move into the bush, and the traditional land-use system of integrating highland agriculture with lowland cattle-grazing came into being.

Cattle owners led the settlement of dry frontier lands, attracted to the superior grazing on the plains. They began these settlements as cattle posts but later established permanent villages. The Kamba retained integrated highland/lowland, crop/livestock systems of land use, which spread risk and ensured group survival. The system was flexible, equitable, and geared to the community as a whole.

1.) Mwingi North with a total population of 139,967 comprises of five Wards that is Ngomeni (pop. 18, 447), Kyuso (pop.40, 375), Mumoni (pop.32, 171), Tseikuru (pop.35, 890), and Tharaka (pop.13, 084).

2.) Mwingi East with a total population 122,361 comprises of five  Wards that is Kivou (pop.24, 886), Nguni (pop.29, 313), Nuu (pop.27, 644), Mui (pop.19, 628), and Waita (pop.20, 890).

3.) Mwingi West with a total population of 122,620 comprises of five Wards that isKyome/Thaana (pop.22, 443), Nguutani (pop.27265), Migwani (pop.28, 169), Kiomo/Kyethani (pop.21, 000), and Mwingi Central (pop.23, 743).

4.) Kitui West with a total population of 102,314 comprises of four Wards that is Mutonguni (pop.34, 140), Kauwi (pop.25, 385), Matinyani (pop.24, 081), and Kwamutonga/Kithumula (pop.18, 708).

5.) Kitui Central with a total population of 131,715 comprises of five Wards that is Miambani (pop.22, 164), Township (pop.26, 016), Kyangwithya West (pop.22, 121), Mulango (pop.28, 573) and Kyangwithya East (pop.32, 841).

6.) Kitui Rural with a total population of 104,443 comprises of four Wards that is Kisasi (pop.26, 759), Mbitini (pop.24, 858), Kwavonza/Yatta (pop.30, 732), and Kanyangi (pop.22, 094).

7.) Kitui East with a total population of 123,239 comprises of six Wards that is Zombe/Mwitika (pop.25, 452), Nzambani (pop.18, 126), Chuluni (pop.22, 046), Voo/Kyamatu (pop.23, 011), Endau/Malalani (pop.15, 506), and Mutitu/Kaliku (pop.15,506).

8.) Kitui South with a total population of 166,050 comprises of six Wards that is Ikanga/Kyatune (pop.36, 185), Mutomo (pop.24, 450), Mutha (pop.25, 138), Ikutha (pop.26, 176), Kanziko (18,664) and Athi (pop.35, 437).

Two constituencies were added during the 2012 IEBC delimitation of constituency and Ward boundaries.

Registered Voters: 351,800 (As per 2010 Registration; this number is expected to be over 400,000 by 2012).
Kitui registered voters as a percentage of National total: 2.8%.

Current Administrative Districts as at May 2012: 16 (Kitui Central, Katulani, Kisasi, Mutomo, Ikutha, Muumoni, Tseikuru, Kyuso, Mwingi Central, Migwani, Mwingi East, Kitui West, Matinyani, Lower Yatta, Nzambani, and Mutito).

History of Kitui County
Local people are mostly of the Akamba tribe. According to most sources, the Kamba, who were hunters at the time, arrived in present-day Machakos from south of Mt Kilimanjaro around 1600 and eventually settled permanently in the Mbooni Hills. Here they first became consolidated as a separate people and turned increasingly to agriculture. Eventually, overcrowding forced a move into the bush, and the traditional land-use system of integrating highland agriculture with lowland cattle-grazing came into being.

Cattle owners led the settlement of dry frontier lands, attracted to the superior grazing on the plains. They began these settlements as cattle posts but later established permanent villages. The Kamba retained integrated highland/lowland, crop/livestock systems of land use, which spread risk and ensured group survival. The system was flexible, equitable, and geared to the community as a whole.

The traditional land-use system was well adapted to the difficult climate and physical environment. Integrated crop/livestock systems, spatially separated holdings, and mutual reciprocity arrangements served to spread risk and to provide mechanisms for coping with drought. It is worth noting that drought was always a feature of life in this region, long before the effects of man-made climate change came to be considered.

Kamba adaptability can also be seen, in that their traditional use of land displayed a readiness to expand, intensify, relocate, or supplement their farming and livestock production activities in response to the changing economic and ecological conditions at local and national level.

Education in Kitui County
Number of Institutions (2007): Primary schools (1,096), Secondary schools (181).
Primary: Enrolment (328,528).
Teacher to pupil ratio: 1:34 (public schools).
Secondary: Enrolment (46,100).
Teacher to Pupil Ratio: 1:34 (Public schools).
Tertiary: Over 60 (Comprises of University Satellite Campuses, Youth Polytechnics, Teacher Training colleges, Medical training college, Technical colleges, and several Commercial colleges).
University Campuses /Colleges: South Eastern University College (SEUCO), Kenyatta University Campus both in Kwavonza lower Yatta and Moi University Campus at Kyuso in Mwingi North Constituency.

Health in Kitui County
Health facilities: 261- District hospitals (3), Sub-district Hospitals (8), Dispensaries (189), Health Centers (23), Medical Clinics (30), Nursing Homes (5), others (3).

Doctor to population Ratio: 1:16,047 (in the Old Kitui District) 1:50,701 (in the Old Mwingi District).

Kamba Social Structure and Culture
The Kamba were originally grouped into some 25 dispersed patrilineal clans (utui) of varying size, which were often mutually hostile. Their social and territorial boundaries were flexible, and the system seems more to have been a response to fluid geographical groupings rather than strictly determined by ancestry or tradition. There seem to have been few if any institutions of centralized political authority, although in times of external threat, military action could be coordinated across the whole tribe.

Clan meetings are called mbai, and through them political matters that affected the whole tribe were decided.
Traditional Kamba religion resembles that of many Bantu-speaking peoples, such as the Kikuyu, in that there is one supreme god, usually conceived of as male and who can be prayed or sacrificed to, and the existence of spirits.
The Kamba consider the heavens and the earth to be the Father’s ‘equal-sized bowls’: they are his property both by creation and rights of ownership; and they contain his belongings, including livestock, which he lowered from the sky and gave (perhaps ‘lent’ is more correct) to the Kamba. Nowadays Christianity is the major religion amongst the Kamba people and the population is almost 90% Christian. In the Kitui Diocesan area, approximately 14 to 15% of the population is Roman Catholic.

As in many sedentary pastoralist societies, Kamba marriage practices include the exchange of cattle as a form of bridewealth payment.

In most cases, the high value of cattle reinforce the authority of older men, as sons usually needed help from their fathers to acquire enough cattle to marry, and inheritance only occurred upon the father’s death. The extended family (musyi) forms the basic unit of life among the Kamba, as they share the same lands.

The houses are built within the lands, and were traditionally round and thatched to the ground. Nowadays, they’re more likely to be rectangular structures built of bricks and breezeblocks, topped with corrugated metal roofs. Colonialism subverted Kenya’s cultures and indigenous educational, legal and political systems. For example, missionaries denounced and colonial authorities progressively restricted and banned wathi – the regular gatherings and celebrations held by the Kamba.

The colonialists assailed the local religions, denying them any validity or usefulness, and maligning them as “heathen”. Even medicine men were vilified as mere witch doctors. Converts to the new religions had to renounce fully their ancestors’ religions. Nonetheless, the inter-war years saw a huge influx of Kamba into the armed services and the Kenya police, especially into the King’s African Rifles, which drew soldiers from all of Britain’s African colonies. Between 1943 and 1946, nearly one-third of all employed Kamba males were in the military, and were represented in the King’s African Rifles at a rate of three to four times their percentage of the overall Kenyan population.

Road Network: Bitumen surface (Data not available), Gravel surface (1072.2km).

Climate of Kitui County
Temperatures ranges from a minimum of 140C to a maximum of 340C. The rainfall ranges from 500mm to 1050mm per annum in different parts of the County.

Economy of Kitui County
Poverty Level: 63%.
Age Dependency Ratio: 100:108.
Resources: Arable land, Wildlife, Livestock, Forests, Minerals (Large deposits of Coal and limestone in Mui basin and Mutomo/Ikutha respectivel).
Tourist Attractions: Mwingi National Reserve, Kora National Reserve and Tsavo East National Park.
Financial Services: 7 Commercial Banks, and 12 Microfinance institutions.
Main Economic Activities/Industries: Livestock keeping, Tobacco, Cotton, Mangoes, Commercial Businesses.
Agricultural Products: Livestock Products, Maize, Beans, Sorghum, Pigeon peas, Cowpeas, Cassava, Millet, and Green grams.

The KICABA Project

Kitui Integrated Creative Arts and Business Appraisal (KICABA) is a non-governmenal organization dealing with the less fortunate in society, founded in Kitui in 2002. The organization is registered by the Government of Kenya under the NGO act. The goal is to reduce poverty among the rural people living in arid and semi-arid lands.

The program has four main programs:

1. Micro-credit:
   This program was established to instill the  culture of saving money among the local people. This make the people more independent and also give a sense of ownership. The whole community benefits from this as well, as they access loans for income generating businesses.
2. Creative arts and local tourism promotion:
   The aim of this project is to make the locals earn a living out of making creative arts. Using traditional materials benefits the region. Also embedded in the program is local music, foods, and dancing. Some of the products can be seen in the KICABA Cultual Center curio shops.
3. Community training:
   To empower the community, KICABA also has a program that teaches the local community about food security, human rights, business and leadership courses, computers,  income generating projects and conflict management, amongst others.
4. HIV / AIDS:
   Through this program, KICABA serves 120 orphans and vulnerable children in addition to their caretakers. This program is very important to stop the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Contact information:

Patrick Kutu (manager)
Email: patrickutu(a)yahoo.com
Telephone: +254(0)7133102567
Office phone: +254(0)44-4423280

General facts

Kitui is a rural town in Kenya, 160 kilometers east of Nairobi and 75 kilometers east of Machakos. It used to be the capital of the Kitui District in Eastern Province of Kenya. Due to political reforms, Kitui is now the headquarters of Kitui County, which covers a larger area than the former district did. As a consequent the city has become a natural meeting point for politicians and businessmen. And most of the hotels are therefore expanding. In addition, people have noticed that Kitui town is suitale for a pit-stop or a sleep on the way from Mt. Kenya to Mombasa.

Kitui town had a population of 13,244 in 1999, but has grown substantially since this. According to the local Non-Govermental Organization KICABA, there are now about 60,000 living in the city, whereas 100,000 if you include the outskirts. A large majority of the people are Akamba’s, but there are also sizable Swahili and Somali population. The Akamba people of Kenya speak Kamba language- Kikamba, and are considered as friendly and welcoming people.

Kitui Town is hot, though the nights can be cold. The minimum mean annual temperature vary from 14 to 22° Celsius. The maximum mean annual temperatures range from 26 to 34° Celsius.

Although most of the sites are located in the outskirts of town, Kitui is a busy trading center, its streets lined with arcaded shops. Every Monday and Thursday is a market day. All sorts of vegetables can be bought, in addition to goats, hens and sometimes even cows.

Banks
There are several banks in Kitui; Barcley’s, The National Bank, KCB, Co-operative Bank and Family Bank – of which all have ATM’s. In addition to these you can find more banks, but the ones mentioned above are mostly recommended.

Hospitals
Hospitals in Kitui town: Kitui General Hospital (Governmental Hospital), Jordan Hospital (private), Nema Hospital (private) and Kitui Nursing Home (private).  If you have the opportunity it is probably wise to use one of the private hospitals which often has a smaller waiting-list. Jordan Hospital has a 24/7-service which means a doctor is available (on call) at all times.

Shopping
Naivas is a new supermarket in town, which opened in December 2009. This store got everything you need, from food to furniture, office supplies and toiletries. The standard of this store is very good, so don’t be afraid if you have forgotten some necessities for the trip. Muli Mall is the only mall in town and contains a few small shops, so most of what you might need you will probably have find in other shops around town, if not in Naivas. There are also several pharmacies in town, of which all are clean and trustworthy, though the variety is limited. For example; the selection of bandages is very poor – so be sure to bring this on the trip in case you’ll get injured. Recently the town opened several stores where you can buy wine and other alcoholic beverages. In addition it also works to buy at hotels like Park Side Villa, where you even can ask them to order for you if you wish for something they don’t have in store.

Transportation
Buses: Mar Mash Poa buses have daily departures to Mombasa. The Kintawa Sacco buses travels to Nairobi non-stop every day. You can find them both at the New Bus Station in Kitui town. The road from Kitui to Nairobi via Thika is among the better roads in Kenya. The Kitui-Kibwezi Road is a tough slog of three hours-plus, much of it rough and dusty, or muddy (but the shortest). Some 20 to 30 km at each end is reasonably graded, but the rest is mostly very poor conditions, save for the off bridge where the road builders have been at work. The road heading north to Embu is tarred and in good condition to Kangond. There are some morning matatus through Embu.

Parking
If you visit Kitui by car, you should notice that parking is not free of charge. Although there are no signs with information, be aware that parking without a parking ticket can be annoying and complicated. There should be parking attendants strolling the streets, normally in yellow coats, so make sure one of these contact you before leaving the car. The fee for parking a full day is 40 KES (September 2012), while the penalty is 500 KES. In addition the car may be locked, so that you need to visit the municipal offices in order to release it.

Mechanics
If your car is damaged in some way, there are many competent mechanics in town, so there should not be a big issue finding one. However, though competent – reparation may consume more time than what you may be used to. The equipment are somewhat old fashioned, and most of the work is done by hand. If your car is stranded, you can call for a mechanic to come fix it. You will then, in addition for the cost for fixing it, probably also have to pay approximately 50 KES in the motorcycle transport for the mechanic. For fixing flat tires we can recommend the Total Tyre Center next to Total Gas Station.
Telephone for mechanics: +254(0)720304504 / +254(0)721513676
Telephone for Total Tyre Center: +254(0)725340220 (Moses)

Gas Stations
There are several gas stations located nearby the Kitui market. These are served by employees, and telling them in advance how much you want to fill in shillings may be clever.

Taxi
Taxis may not seem to be a very common sight in Kitui town, but taxis can be found. Many of them are located opposite Traveller’s Café. The public taxis are suppose to have a yellow stripe along the side of the car, although this is not always the case. The motorcycle taxis however are much more commonly used by the locals – and are also less expensive. You can easily fetch them all over town. Seeing a motorbike packed with three or four people is not an unusual sight. Since the car-version of the taxis could be hard to seek out, you might want to call for one instead of searching for it on the streets.
Telephone: 0723438368 / 0724962007  (for Taxi car)