Nine Italians locked out of a village in Kilifi County

By Paul Gitau

KILIFI, KENYA: Nine Italian nationals and their families spent Tuesday night in the cold after they were denied access into their homes at Angel bays villas in Mamburui,Magarini district.

The foreigners had arrived at their private villas only to be forced to enter into an agreement with Mamburui Promotions Limited, a company they claimed has been engaged to offer services at the expansive village which is owned by more than 200 Italians.

Drama unfolded after the Italians refused to abide to the new directive claiming they were engaged in a court case with the Mambrui promotions Limited and Angels bay Holding Limited which sold them the villas and that they could only abide to directive from law court.

Pandemonium broke loose after the Italians attempted to forcefully enter the premises but were later repulsed by police officers who were called by the management.

Speaking to the press outside the village gate on Wednesday, Favale Salvatore said he was shocked to be denied access to his villa which he bought more than 20 years ago.

Mr Salvatore said the new Management of the villas were using police officers to harass them and denied them access to their homes yet they did not have a court order to that effect.

They pleaded with the government to intervene saying they had already sued the two companies and that the case was still pending in a Malindi court.

“We want the government to intervene as we are being harassed by police yet we bought the houses and paid all the government taxes,” he noted.

The foreigners claimed to have bought the houses each at a cost of sh20 million from Angels bay holding Limited and that they could not engage in any other management agreement with Mamburui holdings Ltd as the company was a stranger to them.

However in a quick rejoinder Mamburui Promotion Limited Manager Mr Jerald Ochieng denied the allegations saying all foreigners who own villas and bungalow were required to register with them and leave their identification documents including the lease and sale agreements.

“We are the management company and we want to know who owns which house so that the information can also be given to police for security purposes,” he noted.

Mr Ochieng said 98 per cent of Italians who own houses had complied with the new security measures and that only 2 per cent had refused to heed to the directive.

He said those who will decline to provide the required information will not be allowed to enter the village.

Magarini OCPD Mr Rotich confirmed there was commotion at the village but declined that his officer were used to harass the foreigners.

Mr Rotich said they had only been called to provide security and advised the aggrieved parties to seek redress at the court.

The nine foreigners and their families were forced to spend the night in the cold and said they will move to court to secure an order so that they can access their homes.