#ShujaaWaJamii: Art Festival Turns Spotlight on Masaba’s Community Issues

Masaba, Migori County, August 19, 2025 — Over 80 young people came together for the Masaba Art Dialogue Festival, an event that used creative expression to highlight pressing community issues. Organized by Special Interest Groups Place (SIGs Place) with support from Siasa Place, the half-day festival at City of Grace Hall also reached hundreds more through Facebook Live under the hashtag #ShujaaWaJamii.

Through spoken word, drama, dance, comic art, and even darts storytelling, participants raised critical concerns ranging from health and education to infrastructure and governance.

Key issues spotlighted included:

Health: The “ghost project” of Sagegi Dispensary, which exists in records but not on the ground, and unresolved land disputes surrounding Kombe Dispensary.

Markets: Leakages and poor design at Masaba Market, and a locked Nyanchabo Market public toilet left unused for over a decade due to unpaid contractors.

Roads: Dangerous conditions on Nyamekongoroto–Romaboba Road and the neglected Sagegi–Wangoro stretch, both cutting off school children and farmers during rainy seasons.

Water: The Kemataha Water Project, reported as complete, but still failing to supply clean water to Kombe Dispensary.

Agriculture: The Getong’anya Sweet Potato Factory, launched twice but still dormant, leaving farmers without a local market.

Education: Nyatira ECDE’s unfinished classroom, exposing children to dust and health risks.

Identity Cards: Long delays in issuance, lack of service charters, and corruption, with bribes of up to KES 1,000 reported.

Despite these challenges, the festival was more than a platform for complaints, it became a launchpad for action. The youth, together with SIGs Place, committed to conducting site visits to verify concerns, writing to duty bearers to seek clarity on the status of projects and services while also urging timely action, using digital advocacy to raise awareness within the community about the gaps identified, and tracking responses from the duty bearers to ensure follow-up.

SIGs Place will continue supporting the community to ensure that the issues raised translate into action, and that accountability becomes a lived reality in Masaba Ward.