About Us

Location
Ugunja Constituecy is in Siaya County within the Republic of Kenya .It is located on the Kisumu – Busia Highway , which links Kenya and Uganda . It lies between latitude 00 23’ to the North and longitude 34021’ East. Ugunja town is 72 km north of nearest city, Kisumu ,which sits on the shores of Lake Victoria. The Equator is 40 km south of Ugunja town. The Constit- uency, whose area is approximately 215 square kilome- ters, has a population of 130,435. .It is bordered by Gem Constituecy to the south East , Ugenya to the north west and Alego to the south. There are three county assembly wards in the Constituency namely: Sidindi, Sigomere and Ugunja. Sidindi comprises of Simenya, Rangala, Yiro East, Yiro West, Ruwe and Uhuyi sub-locations and has a population of 34,263. Sigomere with a population of 41,394 encompasses Got Osimbo, Mung’ao, Madungu, Sigomere, Asango East, Asango West, Tingare East and Tingare West sub-locations. Ugunja Ward, which has a population of 54,778 comprises of Ligega, Umala, Ambira, Ngunya, Ugunja, Rambula South, Rambula North and Magoya sub–Location of Siaya County. (GoK, 2017)

Topography

Two major geomorphologic areas can be identified in the Constituency; the dissected Uplands and moderate Lowlands. These have different relief, soils and land use patterns. River Nzoia traverses the Constituency and enters Lake Victoria through the Yala Swamp. The river can facilitate large scale irrigation and power generation. The physical features have a bearing on the overall development potential of the area. High altitude areas have higher rainfall hence suitable for agriculture and livestock keeping.
In terms of geology of the area, the Constituency is composed of the old Nyanzian system forming exposed rocks. These rocks include basalts, desites and rylites. They are the bearers of course and fine aggregates used in the construction industry. The main soil type is ferrasols and its fertility ranges from moderate to low with most soils being unable to produce without the use of either organic, inorganic or in most cases both type of fertilizers. Much of the areas have underlying murram with poor moisture retention. Ecologically, the area spreads across agro-ecological zones LM1. (GoK, 2012)
and coffee as cash crops, but due to market unreliability, most of them now prefer to just grow food crops for their own families and local markets.

Poverty level in the Constituency is estimated at 60%. In the rural areas, households headed by illiterate people are 65% poor, those headed by primary school leavers are about 60% poor and those headed by secondary school leavers are 55% poor. In urban areas, households headed by illiterate people are more than 65% poor, those headed by primary school leavers are 60% poor and those headed by secondary school leavers are 50% poor. Generally, male headed households are 60% poor while female headed households are 58% poor. (GoK, 2017)

The causes of increased poverty in the Constituency are diverse, but mainly attributed to various factors such as; poor soils, which has led to perpetually low agricultural yields; over-reliance on traditional methods of agriculture due to inadequate extension services; unpredictable rainfall patterns; high rate of deaths due to HIV/AIDS; limited economic empowerment initiatives; inability to access finance/capital; attitude by the current generation of farmers who have not developed beyond subsistence farming; employment opportunities are extremely scarce and therefore little wealth being created; infrastructure (roads, electricity, communication) is in a poor state, less than 10% of population has access to electricity; few institutions

Education

Only about 20% of Ugunja Constituency residents have a secondary level of education and above. Slightly over 65% of Ugunja people have a primary level of education, and nearly 20% of the residents have no formal education at all. The Gross Primary school enrolment in Ugunja now is more than 100% for the boys and girls. In 2005 the Gross Attendance Ratio for primary school was 131.7% for boys and 119.0% for girls, and this has continued to improve. Gross Attendance Ratio (GAR) is the total number of school pupils/students expressed as a percentage of the official school age population, (6-13) years for primary and (14-17 years) for secondary. The dropout rates of 10 - 14-year old’s is at 9%. There is high primary school enrollment, but rather high illiteracy rate amongst adults in the Constituency. (KIBHS, 2005/6).

Health

The current estimated HIV prevalence in Ugunja is 15%.

Energy

Less than 2% of residents in Ugunja Constituency use Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), and about 3% use paraffin. More than 80% still use firewood and 15% use charcoal. Firewood is the most common cooking fuel by gender at 79% in male headed households and 88% in female headed households.

Only about 10% of residents in Ugunja Constituency have access to electricity and use the same as their main source of lighting. A further 21% use lanterns, and 73% use tin lamps. Less than 1% use fuel wood. Electricity use is slightly higher in male headed households at 8% as compared with female headed households at 6%. The main sources of lighting in the Constituency include: tin lamps, lantern, electricity, pressure lamps, gas lamps and solar. (GoK, 2017)

Water and Sanitation

The rural population in Ugunja Constituency depends on various types of water sources for their domestic needs. These sources of water include; wells, boreholes, roof catchment, rivers, water holes, dams, ground catchments and piped supplies. Many water points cannot be used during the dry season because they are seasonal.

In Ugunja Constituency, nearly 50% of residents use improved sources of water, with the rest relying on unimproved sources. There is no significant gender differential in use of improved sources as seen in 35% of male headed households and 37% in female headed households. Ugunja Constituency has the highest share of residents using improved sources of water at 58% in Siaya County. That is four times Bondo Constituency, which has the lowest share of using improved sources of water. Ugunja Constituency is 22 percentage points above the county average. (GoK, 2017)

More than 60% of residents in Ugunja Constituency use improved sanitation, while the rest use unimproved sanitation. There is no significant gender differential in use of improved sanitation. The Constituency has the highest share of residents using improved sanitation at 63%. That is almost three times Rarieda Constituency, which has the lowest share of using improved sanitation. Ugunja is 14 percentage points above the county average. (GoK, 2017)

Housing

In Ugunja Constituency, less than 20% of residents have homes with cement floors, while over 70% have earth floors. Less than 1% have wood or tile floors. Less than 1% of residents have homes with concrete roofs, whereas 40% have corrugated iron sheet roofs. Grass and makuti roofs constitute the majority of homes. This is nearly 15 percentage points above the county average. Again, 15% of homes have either brick or stone walls. As many as 83% of homes have mud/wood or mud/cement wall and less than 1% have wood or corrugated iron sheet or grass/ thatched walls, just about 1% have tin or other walls. (GoK, 2017)