Kismu Central Jua Kali Artisans Association chairman Ouma Copacko has said they now own their current work station within the city centre.
This, after receiving a lease title for the prime location.
He said the land was allotted to them in 1994 by then President Daniel Moi but they have no had proper ownership documents over it, which could have seen them driven out after the County announced plans to restructure the lakeside town.
He said over 2,500 registered members of the association drawn from various trades within the sector, and another over 2000 unregistered artisans stood to benefit.
The lease was secured at a cost of Sh3.5 million and lasts for 99 years.
“It has been a long tough struggle. We had to get influential people to overcome the bureaucracy at Ardhi House, and we are happy we can now settle down and reorganize this place to benefit all of us,” he said.
The money was raised in a funds drive by Governor Evans Kidero and raised Sh7 million.
“We will use what is left of the money to secure more land and to start restructuring this place,” he said in an interview on Friday.
He said some factions of the association wanted to squander the money “but I had to stand firm and defend what belongs to all of us.”
Ouma who was elected in 2014 in a landmark election that ended the tenure of a clique of people that had controlled the association for decades, said he would champion for the interests of the artisans.
He said the title would make it easy for them to organize themselves to better chances of getting Government and donor support.
The lakeside town’s Kisumu Urban Project which aims at improving economic fortunes of the town, promised over Sh100 million into the sector to spur it.