The Queen and The Pawns
PART II
This is a continuation of The Queen and Pawns serialization. Follow the link below to read Part One of this explossive feature on how one powerful Family in Kitui County is taking it all from the public:
The chess game is still on in Kitui County, as the public is turned into pawns to protect the selfish greedy interests of the Mwendwas’, a family that boasts the first Kenyan Chief Justice, a long-serving MP wife and a former Kitui women representative. In part two of this serialization, Kitui Newspaper sleuths have gone deep undercover to unearth some of the most controversial scandals that the family has orchestrated at the expense of the common mwananchi.
The KEFRI road Blockade
Dead end: a section of the KEFRI road comes to an immediate halt at the blockade erected by the Mwendwas’ family. The blocked road section is currently under private development, despite public outcry.
In November 2017, residents of Kitui Central woke to an abnormal shocker: a section of the tarmacked road connecting Kitui GK Prisons, via KEFRI estate to the Bishop’s residence at Kwa-Ngindu shopping center had been blocked and a foundation dug across ready for private development!
The public outcry compelled the county government to act swiftly and identify the private developer who was grabbing the road, and viola; the Mwendwas name came up one more time! Apparently, the family was claiming that a parcel of their land lay squarely across the road, which has existed since colonial era. Bowing to public pressure and owing to the family’s adamant insistence that that road section was theirs, the county government moved to court to seek legal redress of the matter.
According to court orders issued on 17th November 2017, excavation, erecting of buildings, construction of structures or trespassing on or any manner of activities on the parcel of land registered ad L. R. no. 4096/232 in Kitui Township were restrained.
How a section of tarmacked public road dating back to the pre-colonial era came to be termed as a registered parcel of land, complete with a plot number, still remains a mystery to date, with insider sources in the land registry confiding that the Mwendwas obtained the title deed for the road section in the 90s, most probably through crooked methods of corrupt officials. However, one fact is evident; construction is currently ongoing on the blocked road section, and either the County government lost interest on the matter, or lost the merits for winning the court case.
Coming up in Part III of the feature The Queen and Pawns: How the Mwendwas’ Family masterminded the dumping of toxic asbestos wastein Kitui County, and the aftermath games in play as the Kitui County Government is stuck with a consignment of dangerous bio-hazards without a clue where to dispose them.
