By Sandra Blessings
From a once disputed park that left deep wounds and scars to both the occupants and politicians, to a crowned park of beauty, Oile Park is today’s Kisumu Jevanje.
Majority of those who drive through Kisumu, as you approach the Kisumu Boys roundabout, lies the Jevanje of Kisumu.
The once park teeming with criminals, street children and uncollected mounds of garbage, the park is today a home to many to while the day.
Gazetted in 1976 and named after the controversial and battle-hardened former Kisumu Mayor, the late Aloyce Akinyi Oile, the park tells the story of Kisumu — from a bloodbath to a peaceful city.
Oile, through his gang of the famous Baghdad Boys, controlled Kisumu politics and terrorised even the former Prime Minister, the late Raila Odinga.
Oile renamed the park after himself and, just like his name provoked controversy, violence and dispute in the lake city, the park has lived to the billing. It has been a battleground, and dispute has been its other name.
One of the political casualties of the park includes the first Governor of Kisumu, Jack Ranguma, who stood accused of relocating the business community to the peri-urban areas.
During the 2017 General Elections, for the Kisumu Senator Anyang’ Nyong’o’s team, the park offered a crucial and lethal campaign tool which they used to incite the traders against Ranguma — and indeed, they scored. Ranguma became the people’s enemy.
By 2014, the public recreational park had been encroached upon by over 1,000 traders, and the eviction brought sharp differences between Ranguma and his deputy, Ruth Odinga.
Odinga wanted the traders to stay at the disputed facility, while then City Manager Doris Ombara maintained there was no turning back in her resolve to restore the park to its original stature.
The park then was predominantly occupied by street children, and it was a security risk and often avoided by residents.
Apart from insecurity, it became an open defecation area posing a serious health concern and became a hideout for criminals.
But for residents and travellers, it offered a quick shopping stop where they could buy fish and second-hand clothes.
For the traders, it became their lifeline and a source of income to the business community.
Guess what, today Oile Park is the beacon of hope to several youths and women engaged in beauty services.
A beautician, Samwel Odoyo, a businessman at the park since 2007, says the Oile Park Youth Group is a registered organisation that brings them together.
“We as beauticians have been neglected by the County Government. We requested that they allow us to conduct our business and we are happy to be securing our future from the facility,” he says.
But a section of the traders interviewed complained of the high cost of rent charged by the team that manages the park.
The manager charges them Sh10,000 in rent per month for the open space and forces them to hire their plastic chairs and tables, which they say is expensive.
Odoyo says one only requires a rechargeable machine which costs Sh5,000, gel at a cost of Sh500, and other basic facilities. For only Sh15,000–20,000, it is possible to start the business.
Kisumu City Manager Abala Wanga says the open business space has become an employment creator, and the County Government is committed to helping the beauticians.
“We are happy that the park has become a one-stop shop for soloists and beauticians. This is one way of creating employment,” he says.
He says the government will address the concerns raised by the traders on the high cost of rent and maintaining cleanliness at the facility.
Kisumu businessman Mr Edward Onyango, alias Bob CEO, says the park has become the mainstay of the informal sector for Kisumu residents and the County Government should create an enabling environment for the traders.
“We hope the City Management will equip all the parks to allow traders to conduct business and earn a living. We can turn the parks into business points for the business community,” he says.
Onyango says Kisumu’s parks are capable of creating employment for the youths in the city and that forms his manifesto for Kisumu Central Constituency.
