The asphalting works on the Malindi road that from Lamu Road, at the height of the Absa bank (formerly Barclays) leads to the prisons of Mtangani have been temporarily blocked by the High Court of Malindi.
Judge Reuben Nyakundi accepted the motivations of Malindi civil society, composed of the Progress Welfare Association of Malindi, Chamber of Commerce, Hoteliers Association KAHC and the Malindi Resident Development Group, who denounced the fact that the terms and conditions of the 67 million shillings project, financed by the World Bank, have not been respected.
The project initially approved, in fact, foresaw to pave the road with the "cabro" like the rest of the adjacent internal roads of Malindi. Subsequently it would have been modified in the bitumen asphalting. The change, as noted by the petition signatories, was made by Kilifi County through the Ministry of Lands and the Municipality of Malindi and transmitted to the contractor of the works, without consulting either the members of the Board of the Town Hall, nor convening a public meeting, at most even telematic, with the residents of Malindi or their representatives.
The responsible citizens therefore decided to be represented by lawyers Tukero Ole Kina and Conrad Otiang and to make their reasons heard before the Judge, who decided to certify the request as "urgent". The lawyers have requested an order to suspend the project until the matter is heard and determined.
The project is one of those funded by the World Bank for the modernization of the city under the Kenya Urban Support Program, but in this case unlike the waterfront streets and Casuarina and the renovation of the waterfront from the port to Vasco Da Gama, the citizenship was kept in the dark.
According to lawyers, in the case of the Mtangani road, no action was taken in accordance with the law.
The Judge of Malindi will now have the task of understanding why this change from one type of road to another, as well as confirm whether or not there were irregularities in the tender. His judgement could set a precedent to ensure that the Municipality of Malindi, reconstituted less than a year ago in order to benefit from the funds of the World Bank, is always informed about the work to improve the town, on the understanding that the County may have a supervising role.
For their part, the associations have confirmed that they want a lasting path shared by all and ask that each process can be seen and observed by the public as the law requires.