Formerly known as Fort Hall,Central's oldest town and notwithstanding a century of existence behind it,Murang'a is a town that has refused to grow and is under siege from all corners: aMungiki hotbed,rising crime,landslides,jiggers epicentre,the Ngengi’s (well at least the wife),etc

One would have expected it to be a highly developed town given its extensive history,and it being an agemate of Nairobi,but it is in actual fact among the least developed in Central. What happened? What went wrong? Waht stymied its growth? Other similar towns in Kenya that refused to mature?



..there's nothing,absolutely nothing really,that I can't do if I put my mind to it.

Siasa mbaya,maisha mbaya. Mulitoa JJ kwanini?

have you ever tried..

milking a shilling from a murang'a fellow....???

they are so miserly...

they will refuse to pay their own medical bills....!!!

wacha ka-town kaendelee ....

kutuangalia ...

sisi tuaendelea mbele.....

I'm the real Massey F.....shut your mouth

Mutown as it is currently known has its own limitations ranging from physical,social,political and ecomonic aspects.

The town itself is on a hill,thus limiting its expansion. Its inhabitants are conservative and their own worst enemies. If you are an upcoming enterpreneur they will in most cases cut your legs before you go too far. For instance most people would rather shop for their basic commodities in Nairobi rather than in the town itself!!

The clamour for multi party and ' all Asians must go' by one KSN Matiba caused a flight of most of the Asians in the town (and by the way..the owners of Sarit Centre were big time investors in Mutown before they relocated to Nairobi). In as much as people tend to have very negative perceptions regarding Asians they really helped to improve the livelihoods of their employees who were able to save (this was topped up by the coffee boom) and invested their money in real estate especially in githurai and riverroad. Muranga people are resilient and could even survive with 200/= a month back then.

The political choices made by the people of Kiharu Consituency (Muranga town is in this constituency) are to say the least very poor. Elections are guided by whims and emotions rather than on fundamental issues.

This amongst many other issues (Witchcraft and Mungiki) are some of the issues that have stagnated the growth of this town.

Thats my take!


Opportunity favours the prepared mind...........

........methinks this town like many others in Central whose eceonomy was based on the agricultural eceonomy failed when coffee growing 'died'...

....even Nyeri tao has only remained alive coz its the provincial capital.

...compare Karatina,Thika with more diversified base.