The Mwale Medical and Technology City, a Total Scam or Success?

In Kenya’s Butere Sub-county of Kakamega, there is a community-owned sustainable metropolis called Mwale Medical and Technology City. It is built around a huge medical complex that includes the Hamptons Hospital, which can accommodate 5,000 patients, and a research and innovation park in the Plaza neighborhood.

Julius Mwale, a Kenyan technology entrepreneur and investor located in the United States is said to be the man behind the big project.

Mwale Medical and Technology City has an estimated cost of $2 billion USD and is being built in three phases divided into five districts: Plaza, Golf, Grid, Airport, and Industrial. Its construction began in 2014.

The construction of the 5000-bed Hamptons Hospital, a 36-hole golf course, a 10MW solar plant, 3500 solar streetlights, and a shopping mall called Hamptons, round out the tourist attractions in the area. There is also round-the-clock security.

The Hamptons Hospital

Mwale Medical and Technology City
The Mwale Medical and Technology City. Photo/Courtesy

The Hamptons Hospital, which cares for patients receiving treatment for cancer and other illnesses, is located in the heart of this large metropolis. The largest hospital in the world would eventually be built in Hamptons, claims lead investor Julius Mwale.

With cutting-edge tools, it will cover every facet of healthcare. If they have a reference from the Kakamega General Hospital, residents of Kakamega County would receive free care. Since its founding, both inhabitants and visitors to the facility have expressed their admiration for the city.

Superstar Senegalese-American Akon has teamed up with MMTC to provide citizens and companies with digital financial services through Akoin.

The Female Quotient (FQ), which will soon open the FQ Equality Co-Lab in the center, is one of the world’s top businesses that have invested in Mwale Medical and Technology City.

Mwale Medical and Technology City faces Criticism

Despite all the praises and admiration, the City has faced criticism and badmouthing from various parties in equal measure. Scandals and controversies have rocked the project, with many of the City’s critics questioning the legitimacy of the project and its real owner. They have also questioned the real motive behind its establishment with some claiming the founders of the city have a hidden agenda.

In 2018, The Standard Media reported that the facility was caught up in a controversy row with the Kakamega County Government whose officials claimed that the founders had not followed the due procedure when establishing the city.

The county had threatened to destroy the multi-billion shilling development, claiming that it had never granted the investor permission to proceed and that he had broken multiple rules.

The investor, according to county officials at the time, had broken several laws, including the County Government Act, which provides a framework for county planning, the County Land Registration Act, the Public Health Act on Housing and Sanitation, and the Kakamega County Physical Planning Act, which mandates that the county control developments within its jurisdiction.

The county further charged the investor with disregarding a requirement for public input prior to starting such a project.

To prevent the county and Lands Executive Alfred Matianyi from posting advertisements or notices of the project’s demolition, which the investor, Tumaz and Tumaz Enterprises, claimed had already cost Sh14 billion, the firm went to court.

The investor filed an urgent petition with the High Court and won a gag order prohibiting any corrective action on the project.

Mr. Matianyi and the county govern