THE MUMIAS BILLION-DOLLAR TAKE OVER THAT NEVER WAS.

Story by multiple sources.

Tumaz&Tumaz is the company that allegedly won the bid to resurrect Mumias Sugar Company- MSC with Ksh 27 Billion.

At @eshikumo2030, we delve deep into activities of Julius Mwale and Tumaz & Tumaz from the fairy city in Butere, to the land owners who are owed millions and contractors with over 300 court cases. 

In the SIX part series, we expose and debunk the erstwhile investment, the Mwale Myth as pushed by crooked politicians and now small time shadowy business people. 

We seek to tell you how this bid to take over was orchestrated and woven overseas and in Kenya. You will read about 16 politicians who have been cozzy with the erstwhile business man Julius Mwale. 

Using multiple sources both in Kenya and USA, we seek to unravel the game plan in the run up to 'the bid that never was' 

BACK GROUND In 2000, six years after joining the Kenya Air Force, Julius Mwale had severe differences with the top brass in the government that his life was in danger.

He had been working with Kenya Airforce having joined the armed forces technical college for a diploma in telecommunications engineering. 

Governor Oparanya (Right) meeting Julius Mwale in one of the deals revolving around MUMIAS Sugar take over. 

Army authorities would later dismiss the reports, saying that Mwale was fired for being absent without leave (AWOL).

“It is during this training that he absented himself without leave (AWOL) on May 27, 1999 at 0800hrs. He therefore never qualified nor graduated as a radar technician nor as an aeronautical engineer as earlier claimed,” said reiterated KDF spokesman Col David Obonyo.

It is reported that Mwale enrolled for a Master’s Degree in Electrical engineering in 2003 as a “special admit at Columbia University”. It is not yet clear how he could enroll for a Master’s Degree with a Diploma certificate.

Silently, Mwale left to seek asylum in the US for nine years, after which he came back in 2009 as the President and Head of Strategy at SBA Technologies Inc, a multi-million dollar company.

Local MP's Mumias East's Benjamin Washiali and Butere's Tindi Mwale joined the prelate at a PR function at the Mwale center. All elected guests on this day went home with Ksh 30,000.

In 2010, Julius Mwale announced that his company, SBA technologies, was planning to list 10 percent of its stock on the New York Stock Market, NASDAQ.

Unknown to many, before coming to Kenya, Mwale and his company SBA Technologies were sued at a US court for failing to honour “Unconditional Agreement of Guaranty” totaling $159,000 (approximately Ksh16 million).

When he landed in Kenya, his investments were riddled with mysteries and alleged disregard of the law.

For instance, Mwale, through his company, started the Ksh200 billion Mwale Medical and Technology City project in Butere, Kakamega County is even today knee-deep in controversy. 

The feasibility study alone is said to have cost USD3.9 million (Ksh400 million). The city is reported to have a planned 5,000-bed medical referral hospital, a 144-megawatt waste energy facility, a 36-hole golf resort and residences containing 1,500 rooms, and 4,800 houses.

Apart from the cost, the project raised many questions on its viability, target customers, catchment and the initial source of funding.

Also, the developer, Tumaz and Tumaz Enterprises, was at at loggerheads with Kakamega County which said in 2017 that it never cleared the investor to undertake the development and accused him of violating several laws.

According to county authorities, the investor violated the Kakamega County Physical Planning Act requiring the county to control developments within its jurisdiction, Public Health Act on Housing and Sanitation, County Government Act providing a framework for county planning and the County Land Registration Act.

The county wanted to demolish the project, but Mwale moved to court and obtained orders barring the move.

Apart from the county, many locals are said to have lost big tracts of land to Mwale, who gave them empty promises of constructing both residential and rental houses for them.

Mwale engaged in an extensive media campaign, mostly involving the mainstream media who did stories profiling the project as a “gamechanger”.

Seven years since the project started with a lot of hype from the media, the project has gone cold and most of the stories done by mainstream media have been pulled down.

Also, Elisa De Panicis, an Italian Superstar and ex-girlfriend of Portuguese soccer star Christiano Ronaldo, visited the medical facility and “registered” more than 300 family members in a fully sponsored free National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).

In February 2020, Mwale announced that MMTC will be marketed by musician Akon and that Akon's city Project will use Mwale MMTC as a benchmark of success.

FAST FORWARD: 2019. Mwale claimed to have used Ksh19 billion to build a mall, hospital, houses, golf course, power plant,150kilometres of road and an airport within the medical facility.

@eshikumo2030 understands that what looked like paradise in the village is now fast crumbling, with a number of contractors, suppliers, traders and vendors complaining that Julius Mwale MTC owes them millions in unpaid bills.

Some claim to have been physically blocked from accessing the facility to demand payments while others are just given promissory notes, and never paid.

Bloggers, content creators and models who were hired by Mwale through a South African agency were never paid a cent, with some opting to pull down the promotional materials they had made.

The models were allegedly hired by Bianca Koyabe a South African model.

This adds to a 2018 incident where Mwale was accused of having issued bad cheques to contractors to the tune of Ksh22 Million on supply, road construction street lighting and path paving .

NEXT: THE FIRST THREE TOP POLITICIANS WHO MOOTED THE IDEA OF MUMIAS TAKEOVER AT A DINNER IN LONDON. THE INTERESTS, THE INITIAL KICKBACKS EACH OF THE POLITICIANS CARRIED HOME.