THE FALL OF A GIANT FACTORY THAT KILLED A TOWN: The story of Panpaper mills and the fall of Webuye 

I am from South Africa and I have a brother from Canada who constantly visit your channel, we struggle to understand some comments made by the participants in your case studies as they speak Kenyan language, could you please try translating and having English subtitles to accommodate a wide and growing audience? thanks.

Just watched this and it evoked memories of what happened to a lot of Zimbabwean industries too. I recall as a young child hearing about ESAP, ESAP, ESAP till I finally learnt it meant, Economic Structural Adjustment Programme. I am not an economistbut from 1989- 1995 things started changing for the worse for a once thriving Zimbabwe 🇿🇼. I saw it as a child with my own eyes.. WHAT WAS HAPPENING???? By the time we hit the year 2 000 with the Land Dispute and the subsequent Farm Invasions that was the beginning of the biggest exodus of young Zimbabweans from my country. I hurt so much typing this as I am one of the many kids of the Zimbabwe's booming 80s and early 90s who are now living in the cold and VERY lonely Diaspora....you have to experience it to UNDERSTAND it..What happened to Pan Paper Mills happened to so many countries across Africa that had relationships with the World Bank and the like.......😭😭😭! I shall stop typing here. I cannot go on.....😔

What a great memory!!! My father, uncles, and brothers worked here. It was home away from home. I can't get enough of it. When Pan Paper was Pan Paper, we were the cool kids you hear about.

I grew up in Webuye. This takes me back! Those days in Webuye ACK primary school, I could see clearly the machines doing their thing. The siren "king,ora" for shift change for the workers was one of the best time keepers for the entire town, 7AM, 12 noon, 5PM, like clockwork, every single day without fail. Webuye was the place to grow up for sure. I lived in the national estate shown in this video right next to the railway line that transported fuel to the factory and came out with huge industrial paper rolls.

For a person who was brought up in Webuye town, since my dad used to work here, this is very sad. I remember Webuye with a lot of nolstagia since I literally spent all my childhood in this town, national estate

Cant wait for you to do a documentary of Nakuru,from a farmers town to a city...we have great resources of people around that we can hook you up with ...

Hello enock,new here and I just love documentaries and happy to be here.keep bringing more as we in diaspora feel at home after watching your docs.

Brings back alot of memories,this literally holds all my childhood..we hope and pray that one day Webuye will go back to what it used to be or even better

This is so sad considering how the collapse of the factory affected the livelihoods of many people in and around Webuye who depended on the factory.I grew up at our rural home near Kaptagat Forest in early 2000s and a convoy of trucks ferrying wood logs could pass everyday transporting them to Webuye Pan papermills.

My home town where I grew up from in late 80's to earlier earlier 90's ,my dad used to work at panpapper social hall ,I can't forget my old memories of panpapper nersary sch ,Ac primary sch,sango ,railway,pan panpapper stadium,when I watch this video I fill like crying

Deep nostalgia. Do a part 2 featuring the state of National Estate, Equators, and Guest house.

Good work as always - a lot of research goes into such work.

This reminds me of Thika. A booming industrial town back in the days. Companies like Thika Cloth Mills, Synthetic Fibres, Leather Industries all died due to imports and so did jobs and livelihoods

The killing of a giant factory...this company would be back on its feet had it been in central kenya..

I appreciate the good work you are doing to upload the best documentaries..

Please also do a video on the "DARK SIDE OF KISUMU" We can help out in this. A wreckage of factories, Poor roads, Poverty, pathetic and sorry state of transport systems. Abandoned GoK Buildings and offices among others.

Many factories in Kenya have fallen just to make the rich richer by bringing imports and selling them very expensive. Sadly our leaders will only use it as a campaign tool by promising poor Kenyans on how they will revive them. Good documentary, please do another on Mumias and more factories.

You have done this brilliantly....that is home for me .I wish someone could have done something to keep panny like we called it alive .sad.

Very very informative and excellent done Narrative. Keep up with the good work.

Thank you very much for sharing our history as Kenyans may God bring back industrialization and technology to revive our economy

What I miss is those days we sat watching lorries carry logs of trees on the Webuye-Kitale road. I also lived near a forest where those machineries would cut trees and load them onto lorries. Nostalgic!

Thika has a similar story to Jinja Uganda. These giant industrial towns are suffering from derelict industrial buildings. In Jinja we also had Papco, Chillington, BAT etc.

Your work is truly amazing. 👏👏

Enock you doing a great job 🙏 am a great fan of yours both TV and on social media . Keep doing it bro 😊

This is really sad. How I wish such stories can be used as learning curves for many upcoming industries. There is a tone of lessons here on industrial revolution in African context. Kudos to the journalist.

I normally shade tears whenever i pass by that town and that factory, with rusted conveyor belt guard rails ,organized water treatment system, stadium and what used to be stuff residence that accommodated every employee.😢.

This is my second of your documentraries to watch. Very informative and professional.

This is a master piece. Done with military precision

.Am in love with this educative and interesting documentary

My home town back then. What a nostalgic documentary.

I appreciate your efforts for this wonderful documentary i crew up in webuye i went to mukhuyu primary school,D.E.B primary school i was among the first students to go A.C primary,I remember the beautiful staff housing in webuye the National estate and the rest we used to watch Indian movies and life was wonderful remember the trains and the temporary market that would happen when the then 'mixi' passenger train arrived from Uganda what a great nostalgia

As someone who grew up in a village near Webuye, I remember my primary school days in 90's when the pan paper siren or "king'ora" as they say, (at 7am, 7.30am, 12pm and I think 4pm) was our only watch. This factory was not only just supporting the economy of this region, but was helping small boys and girls to keep time. A lot of water has gone under the bridge now, but the bottom line is, absolutely no country in the world has ever developed by killing it's local manufacturing industries. Kenya has killed pan paper, nearly all sugar factories in the western belt, rivatex, raymond, ken knit (almost), kcc (almost) and many that I can't mention. This is our waterloo. Year in year out we will cry about joblessness in this country, and we will keep crying until Jesus comes back, until we come to appreciate that without a robust manufacturing sector, our efforts are futile.

Thank you for such stories...our gone treasure

My hometown back then..schooled in webuye P.A.G primary school aki those days 😢😢.chocolate estate na national estate,site bado ziko..kìnly do a video of the estates

these reminds me of my good old days at ST.JOSEPHS RC...the mill was of great importance to the town.

my favourite documentary youtube channel..

Great work 👌🙏🙏🙏 I appreciate you 🎊

This is information I never knew. One day it will rise again. Thank you brother

Sikolia you have made me to remember those days untill i shed tears

Well done feature, good & productive Journalism 👏👏

The son of soil is back home! So sad! I am from Bukembe. My uncle used to be a truck driver for panpaper. He used to haul trees to the paper mill.

Nice work... Really enjoying your videos

I visited the PMI as a young high school student and it was so cool to watch wood to paper.

We have not just corrupt but very evil politicians, may they never find peace while we suffer 🙄

Wow, your niche is special and different. Please keep doing this

Well documented. Good job Enock. Sad story. Hope Rai will bring the factory back. Even better

.....this is a world class narration. Kudos.

I am surprised you didn’t interview any of the former or current big-shots in the company! Why?

Hello, Enock. You re-uploaded this? I remember watching it sometime back.

Good content brother. Keep up. Ruto government should do something

Great work Mr. Enock Sikolia 👏👏

great work

Abandoned Engineering!!!. So sad to witness this. I went to Lugulu girls up the road in the town hay days.

Great piece

Crying for my beloved Kenya 😭😭😭

Nimekosa wifi for long but now as a number one fun I'm back

This is my hometown..I remember my dad used to work there ..life was sooo good ..but since its collapsed..most families were broken .so sad to see this

manze,so emotional watching this.

Dude you just showed our previous home at Chocolate estate House G. man i couldnt cotain tears.

Great work sir! I am one many who were raised by Panpaper. Quite nostalgic

What a master piece Enoch. Great memories.

It went down so that someone else can Import the same paper make money😭 but killing the economic side of the Webuye people, Employment, Mama Bongas, schools, hospitals and this is how slow we have killed our country due to small people selfishness

I went to school in Eldoret in the '50's. I returned to Kenya and worked for the Mowlem Construction Company. I was on the team that built this factory. We had a camp by the river that supplied the water. I was newly married. I and my young wife loved living and working there. I shall continue this bado kidoo.

Big up enock ur work speaks volumes

I like what you're doing...keep it up Enoch

I worked in Pan paper from 1996 to 2001 as Superintendent Engineer - Instrumentation. I still remember my colleagues Geffery Mayamba, Patrick Mayabi, Laban Unziru, Songole, Gitinji, Victor Muti, Kamau and others.

Your videos will reach million views one day

My Child hood memories, I still treasure this place.

The lady at 22:43, the market lady. She can make a good politician Her laughter is so infectious and her eyes Nice docunentary

Nostalgic feeling. We used to live in Malakisi which was affected in a similar state😰

Enock please do a piece on KARI muguga... This was the most outstanding research centre back then

I was a trainee at panpaper, memories it was the heart beat of webuye town, it was destroyed and thousands of families rendered jobless just for few individuals to import to import paper

A great learning for the just elected leaders...not to politicize businesses. A case in point kericho county leadership targeting multinational companies operating within kericho and bomet counties....

Changamwe Oil Refinery should be covered next

Good documentary...

Look at the bigger picture. See how lush and leafy that town is. A lot of forests flourishing.

Please do abt collapse of Pyrethrum industry in Kenya...plus the unpaid Pyrethrum Co retired staff pensioners...and the farmers

Awesome content, just like the nice content of Le Grand Media Channel.

Excellent reporting..Enock Sikolia

Masterpiece

.... sweeet old times of the 80's and early 90's, am a kid of cotton ginneries ...mwea, salawa & makueni ginneries to be precise! ... i always visit these childhood places to show my kids & to rekindle my childhood memories! - many folks don't realise during these times Kenya was neck to neck with some of the Industrialised nations today! ... & instead preserving this places after their collapsed, some of them have been sold off to private people who have either cut them up into plots & some converted them into resorts & hotels! How do you sell off such pieces of history?

good work bro

There was a similar company called East Africa Bag and Cordage in Juja. This company was the largest sisal processor in East Africa and used to manufacture carpets, gunny bags and all sorts of sisal products. At one time, the company employed thousands and thousands of Kenyans. There were homes for casuals, supervisors, managers and directors. I vividly remember our small house no 169! There were schools, churches, football fields, dispensary etc. I remember my dad going to work every morning and nigh shift sometimes. Then cheap imports struck, the company shutdown and everyone was sent packing home!! A country that kills manufacturers becomes a slave of foreign masters..

Enock sikolia was such a fantastic journalist. We miss him on our screens

Moi régime destroyed most of the Giants industries in Kenya,and now Ruto's regime is almost heading there,killing local manufacturers.so sad to see Kenya going back to the dark days🥲🥲

it gives a picture of old good days. its true the raw material availability is the cause of delayed roar to life and that is understood. PLEASE PLEASE Enoch feature a story of the collapse of KPCU

This documentary made me emotional seeing how: people went down, No business, Mental and financial stress, Nothing to work for. Kenya has a big potential to grow if only we get proper management. I JUST LOVE MY COUNTRY. But I don't see if this company will ever come to life No trees to make papers just a lot is missing . The damage is beyond repair and the debt is up on the sky.

I love this sikolia omwana weru

wow.what a sad story .hope its revived again

Very good reporting and presentation of our history. Keep it up.

I schooled at Kabras (Chebwai) the factory served way beyond Webuye at the time at my Turbo home along the highway it would not Pass 10minutes before you could see a truck curing logs to PanPaper it employed very many at my neighborhood (that's about 50km away from the factory!

No politicians should talk about reviving economy and joblessness without talking about reviving Industries and agriculture our miseries also of not being on the 'side of government' had the sugar factories, panpaper, textile industries be running people would have not come to look for jobs in Nairobi as guards, cleaners, loaders etc

@kenyan historian can you kindly do a documentary on Eveready battery and pyrethelum all located in Nakuru

The raw materials for paper is trees, this factory would have caused a lot of deforestation in the country. It's sad for the many families who relied on the factory.

I played at the Stadium back then, My Great Team AFC Leopards. The stadium was always full to Capacity.

Do one video ya flouspar in kerio valley utashangaa sana

Tribalism and government appointments killed most industries in Kenya. Unless we shun tribalism and corruption we will still be in poverty.

Kindly do a story on petroleum in turkana

I hope the new government will do something about PANPAPER

Also come do the Nanyuki Mountex industry. Whatever happened here must be uncovered