For decades, residents of Kendu Bay in Homa Bay County have called their home by a name that does not appear on official maps.

Kanyasoro, or Ka Nasoor, was more than a nickname. It was a name rooted in the history of the town’s Muslim community and traced to an Arab trader who arrived in the area more than a century ago.

Now, the name has finally gained official recognition.

As the government created new administrative units, residents of Kendu Bay proposed names drawn from their history.

One of the new sub-locations was named Kanasoor Ali, while another was named Ndiany. Both fall under the newly created Maguti Mjini Location.

For residents, the official recognition of Kanasoor Ali is a long-awaited acknowledgement of their identity and history. The name is derived from Nasir bin Ali, an Arab trader who is believed to have arrived in the Kendu Bay area around 1904. Local residents called him Nasoor Bin Ali.

According to Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (Supkem) Secretary Nuhu Masoud, Nasir initially settled at Miti Mbili near Wagwe before moving to Kendu Bay, where he engaged in trade and helped introduce Islam to the local community.

“He arrived in Wagwe but residents of the area decided to take him to Kendu Bay where there were Indian traders. To the residents, the Arab, having a different skin colour from them, appeared to be someone who could best stay with the Indians,” Mr Masoud said.

At the time, the area had no common name. Communities identified places by the clans occupying them, physical features or the homes of prominent residents.

Nasir became an important figure in the lakeside settlement not only as a trader but also as one of the people associated with the introduction and spread of Islam in the area.

Oral accounts identify some of the earliest local converts as Nyalianga Ramadhan, Masoud Ouya, Hairela Madoro, Islam Ododo, Ibrahim Kaser and Saidi Aoko.

Their stories have been passed down through generations with some families naming children after the pioneers.

“They were drawn to Islam when the Arabs shared tea and mandazi with them. Those with Luo names adopted Islamic names,” Mr Masoud said in an interview.

The Muslim community grew through daily interaction, intermarriage and the adoption of Islamic practices.

Over time, the area where many of the Muslim families lived became known as Ka Nasoor, meaning “belonging to Nasoor”. But the name was gradually distorted in pronunciation and became Kanyasoro, a name that stuck among residents of Kendu Bay Old Town.

The community eventually began pushing for Kanasoor Ali to be formally recognised rather than remain a colloquial name.

Mr Masoud said the decision was important because the name preserved the history of the town's Muslim community. “The name Kanasoor Ali honours the pioneer religious and merchant leader.”

The proposal was not without opposition. Some residents argued that naming an administrative unit after a Muslim figure could be discriminatory in an area occupied by both Christians and Muslims.

Mr Masoud said the disagreement was eventually resolved with the name retained as a historical reference and a symbol of the diverse communities that make up Kendu Bay.

Kendu Bay's history is also intertwined with the arrival of Christian missionaries.

Religious tolerance

In 1906, Canadian missionary Arthur Carscallen helped establish the first Seventh Day Adventist mission at Gendia Hill, overlooking the area.

The missionaries combined evangelism with education, healthcare, hygiene and agricultural initiatives, while local converts helped spread Christianity in the surrounding communities.

According to Mr Masoud, the name Kendu Bay itself is linked to the area's geography and the early interaction between the local community and missionaries.

The settlement was located between two hills, Gendia and Glory, with the bay visible from the highlands. Over time, the name evolved into Kendu Bay.

While Christianity became firmly established around Gendia, Islam took root along the lakeshore, particularly in what is now Kendu Bay Old Town.

The two religious communities have since become part of the town's social and historical fabric.

But for the Muslim residents of the old town, the issue went beyond preserving history. They say the lack of an administrative centre within their neighbourhood contributed to years of difficulties in accessing government services.

Mr Masoud said residents had struggled to obtain identification documents and other government services because administrators serving the area were based elsewhere and were unfamiliar with the community.

“We have all along been led by chiefs and assistant chiefs from other areas who are not familiar with us. Sometimes they would not write letters for people applying for IDs because they did not know them,” he said.

Read: Homa Bay proved, again, the backward slide to one-party mindset

The concerns were formally presented to the Ministry of Interior in a petition dated January 27, 2023.

Residents argued that the large size of North Karachuonyo Location forced them to travel long distances to access government services and exposed them to cultural and religious barriers.

The creation of Maguti Mjini Location, and the two new sub-locations, has now changed that arrangement.

Pius Juma Aduwi was appointed chief of Maguti Mjini, while Harun Omar and Shardack Minda were appointed assistant chiefs in Kanasoor Ali and Ndiany sub-locations respectively.

For residents, having administrators closer to home is expected to make access to government services easier. They say the new administrative status should also address longstanding social problems.

Village elder Isac Kiboyo said residents of Kendu Bay Old Town had previously been sidelined in areas such as bursary distribution.

“It was as if we were still in the colonial era, where certain services were preserved for some individuals,” he said.

Women’s leader Nur Aziz said the presence of administrators within the community would also improve the reporting of gender-based violence, teenage pregnancies and other human rights violations.

“Having three administrators who are residents of the old town means people from the area will approach them with ease and report cases of abuse,” she said.

But community elders want the new administrators to go beyond government service delivery.

Luo Council of Elders member Mzee Nyandiko Ongadi said they should tackle drug and alcohol abuse, particularly the proliferation of chang’aa dens frequented by young people.

“The dens should be eliminated. Those who operate them should also be given an alternative source of income because I believe they use chang’aa brewing to feed their families,” he said.

He also called for a public baraza to address concerns over the growing population and the identities of some new residents.

Mzee Ongadi said the community should use the new administrative status to pursue development rather than allow old divisions to resurface.

For residents such as Saidi Aoth, the creation of the new units represents something bigger than administrative convenience. He said families in the old town had for years felt excluded from government programmes, including disaster relief.

“All our problems were linked to failure by local administrators to recognise us. We remained marginalised for long just because we did not have representatives,” he said.

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