Battle for Tsavo fires up debate in Makueni, Taita Taveta

Differences among leaders in Makueni and Taita/Taveta counties over administrative boundaries have resurfaced a year after a similar standoff threatened to paralyse the national census exercise in the areas.

At the centre of the dispute is Mtito Andei, a small dusty township on the Nairobi-Mombasa highway.

Cabinet minister Naomi Shaaban, also the Taveta MP, leads the Taita/Taveta group who argue that the border between the two counties is at the Mtito Andei River; hence the township should be in Taita district of Coast Province.

They cite, among other things, the historical practice of welcoming founding President Jomo Kenyatta to the province by residents by the river as proof that the township is in their county. During such visits Mr Kenyatta, they say, would rest at the State Lodge at Mtito Andei. For their part, the Makueni County leaders like Agriculture assistant minister Gedion Ndambuki and Onesmus Mutua, a senior official of the State Law Office, maintain that the border of Eastern and Coast provinces lies outside Mtito Andei.

During the August 2009 national census exercise, officials from Makueni and Taita-Taveta districts differed at Kilaguni in Tsavo West National Park with each group claiming that the area fell under their respective districts, hence they were duty-bound to conduct the exercise. The government appeared to have been caught unaware by the developments in Kilaguni, and a tactic had to be employed to arrest the situation.

The team from Coast had by the time of the confrontations completed the task. Their counterparts from Makueni were allowed to proceed, but as a top government official from Taita/Taveta described it, “theirs was just a public relation stint”.

Water and Irrigation minister Charity Ngilu weighed in on the debate in support of the Kibwezi group and introduced a new angle: that Mzima Springs, one of the major water catchment areas near Kibwezi town which supplies the Coast, was in Ukambani and should benefit the region.

Dr Shaban read mischief in Mrs Ngilu’s claim, arguing that the whole hullabaloo was about the abundant resources in the region. “It is about resources in the Tsavo which fortunately is in our land. We are talking about revenues, and this is why there is too much noise,” she said.

The disputed area of Tsavo West has at least six world-class lodges — Ngulia Lodge, Kilaguni Lodge, Severin Camp, Kitaani Camp, Ngulia Bandas and Finch Haltons.

“Because of the disputes the government is losing more than Sh200,000 per year in uncollected revenue,” says Mtito Andei town council chairman Festus Kyalo. “To us Tsavo West National Park is in Coast Province. We share Tsavo East National Park with Eastern Province. The Mzima Springs is ours,” says Dr Shaaban.

“Mtito Andei is in Ukambani [Makueni], but the State Lodge about a kilometre to the Mtito Andei trading centre is in Voi. The boundary meanders less than a kilometre from Mtito Andei. As you travel towards Mombasa there is a place that separates the two counties.”

Mr Ndambuki revived the issue during recent meetings involving leaders and professionals. Mr Mutua of the State Law Office, who is also a former town clerk, says the boundaries between the two counties were properly documented in government files. "It is a dispute that can be solved with a lot of ease I am surprised it has taken this long to be addressed,” he said.

But government records seen by the Sunday Nation give conflicting information on where in Makueni and Taita/Taveta counties Mtito Andei lies. Although the Kenya Subsidiary Legislation book of 1963, on page 219, places Mtito Andei in Eastern Province, the Districts and Provinces Act of 1992, tells a different different story.

The Act, which prescribes the districts and provinces into which Kenya is divided, says Mtito Andei is both in Taita and Makueni districts.

Page 54 of the act under ‘The Taita District’ states, “Commencing at a beacon MR on the Kenya-Tanzania international border... thence generally south-easterly by the generally north western boundary of the Western section of the Tsavo National Park to the trigonometrical point Chyulu; thence generally north –easterly and westerly by that park boundary including Mtito Andei to its intersection with western boundary of the Nairobi-Mombasa main road reserve...”

In describing the location of Mtito Andei page 69 of the same Act states, “Commencing at the intersection of western boundary of Nairobi-Mombasa main railway line reserve with Mukaa location boundary... then westerly and northerly, including Mtito Andei and generally south-westerly by the north-western boundary of that park trigonometrically point Chyulu.”

A senior official at the ministry of Lands, who asked not to be named owing to the sensitivity of the matter, said there is some possibility writings in the Districts and Provinces Act were tampered with to suit some interests.

“The government cannot make such big mistakes on such a document that passes through many expert hands before it is made official,” the official said. Taita Taveta county council chairman Laban Tolle said: “I am surprised how such a mistake was allowed.”

Mr Tolle, a retired assistant commissioner of police, was engaged privately by John Ward, the father of murdered British tourist Julie Ward, to help unravel the mystery of her killing.

Source: Daily Nation