If there is one place with a true appreciation for ugali as a staple food in the Kenyan diet, it is definitely Kakamega town. Do you know how to eat ugali properly or do you pinch it like it will bite you? Well, when the British set foot in Kakamega, they were offered the region’s loved food, obusuma – ugali in Luhya. In their attempts to eat the obusuma with their hands, they ended up pinching the ugali instead of scooping it and squeezing it in their hands like the Luhya did. For that, the place was named Kakamega, which means “to pinch” in Luhya.
Eastwards from Kakamega town, you will find Mumias, once the capital of the Abawanga Kingdom. The Abawanga are famed for being the only community in Kenya who traditionally had a monarchy system of governance. Mumias is named after Nabongo Mumia, the last sovereign Abawanga King.
Still within Kakamega County sits Butere. Butere is a silent town that’s also occupied by some Luhya sub clans. This agricultural town is named after the Abatere clan that inhabits the area.
44 kilometres from Kakamega on the Kisumu-Kakamega Road, you will find Vihiga town in Vihiga County. Vihiga’s name is derived from mahiga, the Maragoli word for “three cooking stones” that were used in many households in the region. Maragoli is a Luhya sub community that lives in Vihiga. Extensive stories even go ahead to say that the name came to be after the first white missionary arrived in the region in mid 1920s and was fascinated by three huge rocks found in the area aligned in the way the Maragoli cooking stones are arranged. Following his wonder and amazement, the region was named Vihiga.
A stone’s throw away from Vihiga is another town whose name has a hilarious meaning: Chavakali. Commonly known as Chavaa, the town’s name is the Maragoli word for “‘womens’ thing”, as it is thought to have been the market where people used to exchange brides for a bag of maize.
Western Kenya is not home for only the Luhya community. Sub-communities of the Kalenjin also live in the region. For instance, at the foot of Mt. Elgon there is a small town called Kapsokwony that’s mainly inhabited by the Kwony clan of the Sabaot . Its name is derived from the Kalenjin word sop which means live in Kalenjin. The term kap translates to “place of” in Kalenjin; hence, Kapsokwony means the place where the Kwony found life.
Another one of Western Kenya’s most prominent towns is Bungoma – the headquarters of Bungoma County.
Some people believe that Bungoma was named after the Bungomek, a clan of the Sabaot community of the Kalenjin, who were ejected out of the area by the Bukusu sub-community of the Luhya. Others believe that the name Bungoma means “the place of drums” since when the Bukusu elders organised for communal meetings, they would beat engoma, the drum, to inform people of the meeting.
What other towns from Western Kenya do you know? Share the names and their meanings in the comments.
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