Kisumu Boys High School and other schools in Kisumu City will be relocated outside of the city center, according to Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyong’o.
Prof. Nyong’o claims that despite being located on prime land in the heart of the lakeside city, the schools add no economic value.
According to the governor, a city is a commercial entity that should be run profitably.
“Considering the value of the place, that land needs to be useful. We need to construct an integrated urban centre rather than schools,” Prof Nyong’o told journalists in Nairobi, as he provided updates on the upcoming 9th edition of the AfriCities Summit, which will be held in Kisumu from May 17 to 21, this year.
Kisumu Boys, whose history dates back to the early twentieth century during the construction of the Kenya-Uganda Railway, will be relocated to a 105-acre parcel of land in Kibos.
Kisumu Girls High School, Manyatta Arabs School, Kisumu County Referral Hospital, the main bus terminus, and the Jua Kali market will also be impacted, according to a plan unveiled early last year.
“Each school has a field, a swimming pool and other amenities that have occupied [large parcels of] land. Why don’t we take them to an area where schools share amenities? We don’t need to have a field for each school in a town.
“Five schools can have one field because they don’t use it all the time. Students from school A can use it the morning and in the afternoon school B brings its students,” Prof Nyong’o said.
The governor cited the Kisumu ASK grounds in Mamboleo as an example of land that was converted into the 30,000-seat Jomo Kenyatta International Stadium in Kisumu.
The ASK showground spans approximately 100 acres. It used to have a two-week show every year, and the rest of the year the 100 acres sat idle according to the Governor.
“And now an investor has built ultramodern convention centre and the other one has expressed interest in constructing a hotel around the stadium,” he explained.
The project, dubbed “Transforming Kisumu City through Improved Urban Aesthetics,” aims to revitalize the city’s economy and services by improving the city’s drainage system, establishing an integrated solid waste management system, providing green spaces throughout town, and improving public health and sanitation.
The Kisumu County Referral Hospital and the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital will be merged.
Former students have threatened legal action against the Kisumu County Government in response to the plan to demolish Kisumu Boys High School.
Kisumu East MP Shakeel Shabbir, Kisumu West MP Olago Aluoch, Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, former Kisumu Governor Jack Ranguma, businessman Kamlesh Pattni, and the CEO of the Institute of Economic Affairs, Kwame Owino are all graduates of the school.
