Mpeketoni

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mpeketoni is a small town and an administrative division in the mainland part of Lamu District, Coast Province, Kenya. It is a settlement scheme started in 1960s by the first president of the Republic of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta near a fresh water lake bearing his name.

Originally, Mpeketoni and its surroundings was inhabited by swahilis called wabajuni and a small hunters tribe by the name of wasanye who are almost extinct. In the early 1970s Mpeketoni was transformed into a settlement area for landless Kenyans. Most of those who settled there were Kenyans from upcountry who had been living in Tanzania but decided to return home due to changing political climate. The Kikuyu tribe, which is traditionally a farming community, mostly populates this area. Other tribes found in Mpeketoni include the Luo and Kamba as well as the original local Swahili people. The land has since been painstakingly transformed to arable land for farming. The main cash crops include maize, cotton, cassava, cashew nuts, mangoes, bananas and sugarcane.

The division and the division headquarter by the same name is in a route that was used by the Arab traders taking their commodities "slaves" to Lamu Island. Up to now a huge mango tree along the way from Mpeketoni to Lamu Island are still visible and are said to have grown from the seeds of the mangoes slaves were eating.

The population was estimated to be around 25,000 in the late nineties.