State to set up digital hub at Tom Mboya mausoleum - Owalo

 

Plans are in progress to establish a digital hub within the Tom Mboya mausoleum with a focus on marketing initiatives.

Eliud Owalo, the Cabinet Secretary for ICT and Digital Economy, announced this development during the thirteenth edition of the annual Rusinga Cultural Festival in Suba North constituency, Homa Bay.

"The installation of the hub aims to provide youths with access to internet services, facilitating online work opportunities," he said

Owalo emphasized the significance of the festival in helping people reconnect with their cultural roots and strengthen communal relationships.

He highlighted the role of digital skills development for the youth, enabling them to engage in online work.

The CS suggested that the festival could be effectively promoted online to showcase the cultural and traditional values of the Abasuba community.

Owalo underscored the importance of cultural events in allowing people to trace and fortify their cultural heritage.

He emphasized the need for collective efforts to preserve and grow cultural traditions, countering the trend of individualistic cultural practices.

The festival drew tourists from over seven countries, a fact acknowledged by Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) acting CEO John Chirchir and Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) representative Peter Wafula.

They highlighted the significance of cultural festivals as essential components of tourism and contributors to foreign exchange earnings.

Chirchir said most festivals bring about what is unique about a community. In Suba, the festival is used to showcase traditional food, music, boat racing and fashion

“There are a lot of investment opportunities that investors can explore in tourism,” he stated

The KTB official noted that the island and other areas around Lake Victoria which form part of the Western Kenya tourism circuit should be known all year round.

“KTB supports such cultural festivals because they help to nurture talents and promote community cultural heritage and moral values,” ChirChir said.

Wafula revealed that KAA recorded a rise in the number of passengers traveling to South Nyanza from Nairobi for the festival.

National government officials said that is an indication that the festival is gaining popularity across the globe and can be used to market the Western Kenya tourism circuit.

The yearly festival which is held in late December is meant to promote Abasuba culture and traditions.

There is a belief that the Abasuba will be extinct due to assimilation by the neighbouring Luo community.

Some members of the community are unable to communicate through the language but can eloquently speak the Luo language.

The festival organizing committee chairman Narkiso Okello said they initiated the extravaganza after realizing that many of the current generations were losing their culture due to modernity and absorption.

Invitees to the festival are elders, people who understand the community traditional way of life and others people outside the community including foreign tourists.

Tourists came from Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, US and other European countries.

Elders teach young people how to speak Abasuba language, names of various animals, working tools, household items and how they are used. They are taught numbers and alphabetic.

“A majority of the current generation was truly loosing Abasuba culture and that’s the reason we organize the festival yearly. Modernity and assimilation are a real threat to Abasuba culture and tradition,” Okello said.  

During the festival, people visit tourist attraction sites such as Ruma National Park, Tom Mboya Mausoleum, Sandy beaches, Rocky Island perching birds and Gwassi hills among others.

The Dream Believe Repeat organization director Moses Weke also took the opportunity to sensitive adolescents against the triple threat which is rife among the youth

by ROBERT OMOLLO