Labour Cabinet Secretary nominee Alfred Mutua on Sunday revealed that his goal of building Machakos City during his tenure as Governor was derailed by a five-year court case.....CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
While appearingbefore the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments, the former Governor explained that in one of the agreements, he had inked a deal with a tycoon behind Dubai Mall.
He noted that the unnamed individual had committed Ksh52 billion (USD 400 million) to build a hotel among other projects but the suit, which he claimed was brought forth by Johnson Muthama and Wiper Party, delayed the rollout.
The tycoon, alongside others, then transferred their investments to Rwanda and other African countries.
“The person who built Dubai Mall came (to Machakos) and committed USD 400 million. He had committed to putting up a sports city and hotel system as well as connecting the highway from Machakos,” he told the panel.
“We signed an MOU which is still in place. But when the case went to court, he took his money to Rwanda and the rest to Angola.”
In total, Mutua explained that the country lost Ksh2.1 trillion worth of investments, a bigger chunk of which ended up in Rwanda.
“When we came up with the program of the Machakos new city, we brought investors who signed MOUs worth Ksh2.1 trillion to bring investments not just in Machakos but across the country,” he added.
“John Muthama and the Wiper Party went to court and got an injunction that was issued by the court. Therefore, we could not proceed with that program until the court ruled otherwise. The court took five years (to determine the case). Despite that, we were able to continue (with the projects).
When the court threw out that suit and said it had rendered the people of Machakos poorer over time because all the investments were lost, they went to Rwanda, Ghana, and South Africa.”
In 2020, Mutua noted that his administration, which ran Machakos for two terms, had already secured approvals from the National Land Commission (NLC) but the suit halted the project’s rollout.
After the case was thrown out, Mutua disclosed that the project lost a further one year in allotment wrangles around the same time the NLC faced integrity issues.
He had also promised to build an airport whose runway would also serve as the track for his Formula One circuit dream...CONTINUE READING>>
