US-based businessman Julius Mwale is facing growing legal and financial pressure as court battles reveal deepening disputes with creditors and contractors tied to his flagship project.
In a case that has raised eyebrows in legal circles, Mwale has shifted blame onto a now-deceased contractor in response to a Sh17 million claim over road works supplied at his controversial Mwale Medical and Technology City project in Kakamega.
The dispute stems from a lawsuit by Sifatronix Limited, which says it delivered murram for the project in 2017 but was never paid.
Instead of directly addressing the claim, Mwale’s legal team pointed to testimony from the late Dr. Fitzgerald Oketch, who had previously asserted that another firm held the contract.
The affidavit has since become central to Mwale’s defense, despite Oketch’s unexpected death in October 2025.
In February 2025, Justice Freda Mugambi ruled that Mwale should be held personally liable alongside his company, Tumaz and Tumaz Limited, but Mwale has appealed that decision and now seeks to overturn the judgment.
The Sifatronix claim is just one of many linked to Mwale’s project. Court records and public complaints allege dozens of unpaid bills, bounced cheques, and broken agreements stretching across Kenya and the United States, involving sums exceeding Sh325 million.
Several contractors and vendors who worked on the project have publicly voiced their frustrations, saying they were either blocked from accessing the site to collect dues or were given promissory notes that were never honored.
Content creators hired to promote the project say they were never paid at all and have since removed promotional material in protest.
Critics say the developments illustrate deeper problems with Mwale’s much-publicized project, which he has promoted internationally but which opponents describe as plagued by unfulfilled promises and growing debt.
