Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki has hit back at Chuka University Academic Staff Union (UASU) and other affiliated unions following the proposal by the county government to hive 100 acres of the Kairini 500-acre land to construct a Special Economic Zone Industrial Park in the county.
Speaking at Mariani Ward during a seed distribution program on Saturday 18 March 2023, the Governor insisted that President William Ruto had ordered for the alienation, terming the proposal as ‘non-negotiable.’
“The government through President William Ruto has already committed to invest KShs 100 million for the project. The county government of Tharaka Nithi will also invest an additional KShs 100 million while KShs 1.2 billion will be invested by donors for the completion of the project. The proposed alienation is non-negotiable”, he said.
In a press briefing on Wednesday 15th March 2023, UASU maintained that they were not opposed to the proposed development but insisted that the county government had enough land for such a project, strongly condemning the proposed alienation where they termed it as illegal and forceful.
According to UASU, the land was donated by the community for expansion and research, and the 500-acre land had been revamped and restructured as an income generating unit utilizing large scale livestock keeping, bee farming and agronomic farming activities for banana, avocado and mango plantations.
Njuki in his speech insisted that Kairini was settled for due to its road, water and electricity availability, saying the same people that had donated it to the public will be the ones to benefit from the SEZ Industrial Park.
Several leaders including MCAs have come out to support the proposal, including Mariani MCA Anita Mbae and Igambang’ombe MCA Njeru Ing’ara.
“It is our own 500-acres of land that was donated to the university back then. No one, including leaders and residents is opposed to the proposal to have 100 acres donated towards construction of the Industrial Park”, Njeru said.
The SEZ Industrial Park is set to create over 5000 jobs under skilled and non-skilled labor.
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