Compensate all locals before expanding Malindi airport - MP Jumwa says

Malindi International Airport in Kilifi, where the senior officer from the Tana River County Government was found with undeclared Sh2.699 million in cash.

What you need to know:

  • Ms Jumwa said the Sh5.6 billion project will only take-off when all the families have been compensated.
  • Kwachocha committee chairman Charles Charo said some residents lost rental incomes after tenants vacated due to uncertainty.

Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa has urged the government to speed up the compensation of some 200 families to facilitate the refurbishing of Malindi International Airport.

Speaking during a meeting with the families at Kwachocha, Kilifi County, Ms Jumwa said the Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) already carried out value evaluation of land and properties of the locals at Kwachocha.

"The National Land Commission (NLC) and National Treasury should complete the compensation.

"If there are hurdles they should allow those affected to develop the area because their lives have become difficult since some buildings are collapsing during the rainy season.

"There is no happiness at all among the families. We want feedback so that we can sit on the land freely," she said.

DEAL SIGNED

But according to an agreement signed between the locals and the NLC after the latter carried out land and property evaluation for phase one of the project, the residents are not allowed to undertake any structural developments.

The Nation has established that locals within the Kwachocha Phase One A signed the compensation awards but those in Kwachocha Phase One B are still indecisive.

Ms Jumwa said the Sh5.6 billion project will only take-off when all the families have been compensated.

BUSINESS
Mr Charles Charo, the Kwachocha committee chairman, said some residents lost rental incomes after tenants vacated due to uncertainty.

"Businesses such as schools, colleges and rental houses have collapsed and the price of land in Malindi and its vicinity is increasing on [a] daily basis following the compensation reports," he said.

Malindi Airport Manager Walter Agong said there is no fixed timeline for compensation, and that the first batch of money was disbursed to NLC last year.

"Although not all of them have been compensated, those who have received their money have begun relocating," he said.