Lawyer and activist Kebaso Morara has sparked a political storm with a fresh exposé in his hard-hitting Vampire Diaries series, targeting the stalled Tseikuru Airstrip project in Kitui County — a project closely tied to Former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka’s legacy.
According to Morara, the project gobbled up a staggering Ksh 278 million between 2012 and 2016, yet remains incomplete and derelict.
Breakdown of the allocations as highlighted in the exposé:
According to the lawyer and documents in possession of Channel 15 News, the funds were distributed as follows:
July 16, 2012: Ksh 50 million disbursed to the National Youth Service (NYS) for graveling.
2013/2014: Ksh 118 million sent to the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA).
2014/2015: Ksh 25 million to KAA.
2015/2016: Ksh 85 million to KAA.
While NYS reportedly undertook some initial graveling, Morara claims that Ksh 228 million was transferred to various bank accounts and stolen. “Those accounts belong to the obvious. You can guess,” he told his viewers, insinuating involvement of politically connected individuals without naming names.
The revelation comes 14 years after Kalonzo Musyoka led a high-profile tour of development projects in his Mwingi North Constituency — including the very airstrip now at the center of the exposé.
During that tour, the former Vice President was accompanied by senior government officials and engineers, underscoring the seriousness with which the project was being presented to the public. Among them was Eng. S. Gichuki, then Managing Director of the Kenya Airports Authority; Eng. Raphael Mukui, the Authority’s Civil Engineer in charge; and Eng. Gideon Mulyungi, who at the time served as Secretary for Public Works. Also present was Stephen Momanyi, then Tseikuru District Commissioner, alongside several civic leaders from the region.
Addressing a hopeful crowd, Kalonzo promised that development inequalities and marginalization would soon be a thing of the past, assuring locals that the new constitution would ensure devolved funds and equitable distribution of national resources.
Yet over a decade later, those promises remain unfulfilled — and the crumbling airstrip has become a symbol of unrealized development and lost public trust.
As part of our investigation, Channel 15 News is in possession of a re-tender document from the Kenya Airports Authority, dated January 2022, confirming renewed efforts to revive the project through additional public funding. The tender — referenced as KAA/OT/TSEIKURU/0119/2021-2022 — called for rehabilitation of the runway, installation of fencing, a gatehouse, washrooms, and a borehole, with an engineer’s estimate of Ksh 85 million.
The document required interested bidders to schedule site visits by prior appointment via email, in line with COVID-19 social distancing protocols. The closing and opening date was set for February 2, 2022, at 11:00 AM.
However, Channel 15 News has confirmed that at the time of the re-advertisement, there was absolutely no construction or preparatory work ongoing at the airstrip, and locals had begun to dismiss the project as a political mirage. Despite the re-tender, more than two years later, no visible progress has been made, further fueling speculation that the move may have been another bureaucratic cover-up to sanitize earlier financial irregularities.
“There can be no peace without justice. Peace is not the silence of stalled projects and stolen billions — peace is accountability, service, and truth,” Morara declared in his exposé. “If we are serious about development, we must confront these ghosts.”
In light of the exposé, the question that remains unanswered is: Did Former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka have any involvement in the mismanagement of funds meant for the construction of the Tseikuru Airstrip?
Given his prominent role in the 2010 inspection of the airstrip, and his status as the political leader of the region, it is impossible to ignore the possibility that he had oversight, or at least influence, in the project’s management. Why did the project, which appeared so promising on paper, fail to materialize after the considerable funds were allocated? Was there any accountability regarding the Ksh 278 million spent over the years?
Could Kalonzo Musyoka, as a leader at the time, have known about the disappearance of taxpayer money, or was the project hijacked by other powerful forces beyond his control?
These are difficult questions that now need to be addressed. As residents and taxpayers continue to feel betrayed by the unfulfilled promises, the question on everyone’s lips is: Where did the money go, and why was it not used for the intended purpose?
As 2027 approaches, the airstrip — once a symbol of hope — is turning into a political landmine for Kalonzo and a rallying cry for reformers demanding answers.
In another significant failure for Kalonzo and his leadership, the Enziu Bridge in Mwingi has become a bitter reminder of broken promises to the residents of his constituency.
For years, Mwingi residents have suffered from the lack of a functional bridge at Enziu River, which is essential for the region’s connectivity. Despite repeated promises from local and national leadership, including Kalonzo Musyoka himself, no serious work has been done to build or rehabilitate the bridge.
Ezekiel Mutinda, a resident of Ngomeni in Mwingi, has previously questioned the logic of prioritizing an airstrip at the time, given the region’s more pressing infrastructural needs. “Why are we building an airstrip in a place where there are no roads, no bridges, and where the people’s most basic needs remain unmet?” Mutinda famously asked during an interview. His words resonated with many residents who felt that resources should have been invested in improving the region’s connectivity rather than a project that, to this day, remains unutilized.
Locals have continued to cry out for attention to the project, yet despite the billions in government expenditure, the people of Mwingi and Tseikuru continue to feel abandoned, their hopes dashed by the failure of the state to fulfill basic infrastructural promises.
However, many locals now argue that the Ksh 278 million spent on the Tseikuru Airstrip could have been better invested in more pressing needs. Instead of a nonfunctional airstrip, a proper all-weather road from Mwingi Town to Tseikuru could have been constructed, improving accessibility and economic activity for the entire region. This road, they argue, would have had a far greater impact on the local community, facilitating trade, transport, and access to essential services. In a region where infrastructure is limited, a road would serve far more people and for a fraction of the cost of the airstrip.
By prioritizing the airstrip over the road, critics argue that the government and Kalonzo Musyoka missed an opportunity to address the real needs of the people. As it stands, the Mwingi-Tseikuru road remains in poor condition, while the promised airstrip remains a pipe dream, leaving many questioning the true motivations behind such decisions.
