The collapsed electricity posts of Katilinge and Sh50 chicken stew

 Three fallen electricity posts welcome visitors to Katilinge Market in Tseikuru ward, Kitui County. The town is sleepy and lacks vibrancy due to lack of hydroelectricity despite the black wooden posts standing faithfully tall to the skies. For months.

When Mwingi Times visited the Tseikuru village Saturday, it was met with a highly gendered and role-specific environment where boys could be seen chatting or riding Bodabodas as girls were sent to the market to do shopping and return home to prepare meals.

Most boys appeared idle and in need of a spark, a spark to make money. Which is lacking here.

Back to our electricity posts. Upon close scrutiny, we noted that a transformer sits at the centre of the market but for some reasons, the neighboring posts have since caved in.

 Some of the factors here are that the soil is loose, sandy mostly and is highly porous. But Kenya Power, residents say, never switched on the socket after infrastructure installation.

“Go to other neighbouring towns around. The situation is the same”, confides a female resident we met chatting with another.

It is not clear how much longer the residents will have to wait before Kenya Power and Lighting Company comes to their help.

Despite all this, the residents are a happy lot and are cut off from the hard life that comes with a growing town. They welcome visitors and they don’t take it kindly when visitors leave without taking their food.

This writer took a chicken stew and chapatti. But upon going to the cash till, he was told that chicken is only Sh50 and chapatti goes for Sh10.

Story by MUSYOKA NGUI