Stefano Uccelli during a past media briefing. [Photo/ mediamaxnetwork.co.ke]
Two investors, an Italian and Kenyan from Mombasa have been blocked from accessing their Sh1 billion luxurious hotel in Watamu.
The hotel’s current management is disputing a court judgment allowing the two to take over the property.Isaac Rodrot and Stefano Uccelli were barred from accessing the resort by community members, staff, and the hotel’s management despite going to the hotel with a contingent of security personnel led by Malindi OCPD Matawa Muchangi.The drama unfolded when the current management of the hotel under Hans Jurgen Langer a German Investor, got information that the two investors were planning to officially take over the hotel’s operations.Staff members, a section of community members and elders from Watamu ganged up and blocked the access to the hotel.Two vehicles were parked at the gate of the hotel as the workers armed with stones, bows and arrows kept guard at the entrance.They also lit tires to prevent the investors from accessing the hotel.Efforts by security personnel to keep the workers off the entrance proved futile.The officers retreated after about a one-hour standoff.The Malindi OCPD ordered the officers back saying they had done their work and the rest would be dealt with by the courts.A section of elders from Watamu said they fully support the German investor running the hotel, arguing that Rodrot was not the owner.Osman Mwambire, a village elder, said Rodrot was a former employee and could not in any way become the proprietor of the resort.“The current investor is peaceful and we want the government to protect him on behalf of elders. We do not want any problems as the hotel belongs to Langer,” he said.On his part, Langer said the court did not give a precise judgment and nobody should enter the hotel.“The court needs to sort out the issue on who is the real shareholder in the hotel,” he said.He also said the hotel was not Salama beach hotel but Temple point resort.The wrangles over the ownership of the hotel have been going for seven years.Rodrot and Uccelli have maintained they are the real owners, arguing that Langer used a foreign judgment to acquire the hotel.