The Sh 100billion Diaspora University Town project in Mwatate, Taita Taveta County has been declined. Ministry of Lands has declined to transfer 1,500 acres of land to the investors, citing irregularities in the acquisition process.
The investors’ efforts to have the land transferred from the Ndara Branch to Diaspora University Trust are futile because of land wrangles between the ranch and locals in Mto Mwagodi.Documents at the Lands department show that the ranch has already hived off a part of the land from its 6,000-acre tract. But the department is yet to transfer the title deed to the Diaspora University Trust to allow the project to kick off.
Project plan
The project plan shows the development of townhouses, hospitals, a research park, an industrial park, schools, and medicine and vaccine plants. Ranch officials said the controversy arose from the personal interests of a few individuals who want to benefit directly from the investment while county and national government officials claim the project is questionable.
The project was initiated in 2006 by a group of about 500 Kenyans living in the diaspora, with the initiators seeking to build a university, a hospital and schools on the land. The project received the go-ahead from the first county assembly in May 2015, a decision rescinded by the current MCAs in 2018.
The MCAs argued that the investors had failed to seek the views of area residents thereby rendering the land acquisition questionable. Though the project received a negative response from the devolved unit, environment watchdog Nema has given its approval to allow it to continue.
