Sharp divisions have emerged over the planned establishment of a university near a World Heritage site in Coast province. The university is to be established near Kaya Fungo, which is a World Heritage site. It is feared that some local leaders may have been ‘compromised’ to accept the project, which according to Heritage experts, may affect the values and setting of the site.
National Museums of Kenya (NMK) Coast forest conservation unit representative, Antony Githitho said the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, through Mombasa Polytechnic University Campus, were considering acquiring a piece of land adjacent to the Kaya Fungo World Heritage site for construction of a coastal campus. He said, “It appears some local leaders were ‘offering’ the land, we have since confirmed there is such a move and on Friday we went to the site which is immediately adjacent to the Kaya and includes the site where the celebration ceremony of the world heritage inscriptions were held.”
A meeting was convened by Prof Josphat Mwatelah, a principal at the Polytechnic, confirmed that the institution occupies 27.5 acres and they needed more for expansion. The Kaya elders have vetoed the idea but are allegedly facing a lot of pressure. Said Githitho, “While another campus at the coast is welcome, the location is obviously problematic, it is directly within the buffer zone where activities affecting the values and setting of the site should be discouraged.”
The official said the scale and type of development would have a disastrous effect on the Kaya rural setting and its environs and will affect its status. He added, “Besides, there is plenty of land available in the general Mariakani area including the one adjacent to the Mariakani/Kaloleni road, which is currently being tarmacked,” Githitho said NMK should move swiftly to discourage the university from the idea using formal and informal means to set up the campus.
