Mwale Medical and Technology City
Mwale Medical and Technology City is a planned, community-owned sustainable city located in Butere, Kakamega County, Kenya. The development is centered on a large medical complex, anchored by Hamptons Hospital, which has a reported capacity of 5,000 patients. The city also includes a research and innovation park situated within its Plaza district.
MMTC comprises several functional districts, including an industrial area anchored by a solar power plant, and residential zones that incorporate amenities such as a 36-hole golf course. A commercial district features shopping malls, supermarkets, and hotels, while an airport district has been planned to facilitate patient evacuation to the hospital, including a proposed cable car system.
The total estimated cost of the project is approximately US$2 billion.
History
Phase 1 spanned 2014-2016, during which the Hamptons Mall was constructed. It contains of housing; a supermarket; a cafe.Phase 2 was constructed from 2016 to 2017. It included of roads and solar powered street lights. It also included the Hamptons hospital. Some sources say this hospital has 5000 beds. This would have made it the second largest hospital in the world. Others say only the first section of the hospital including the cancer treatment centre were part of phase 2 with other departments to be added in phase 3. As part of a 2022 Mediapart investigation, journalists contacted the hospital and were told the Advanced Cancer Treatment and Diagnostic Centre was not operational and that the facility saw under a hundred people a day, primarily for malaria treatment.
Climate
MMTC is situated in a tropical rainforest climate. The area sees stable year-round temperatures averaging 20.8 °C and ranging from average lows of 19.7 °C in the coolest month of July to average highs of 29.4 °C in the warmest month of February. The temperature rarely ever rises above 31.7 °C or drops below 12.8 °CHumidity is 56-79% year-round.
There is frequent rainfall, with an average as low as 77 mm in the driest month of February and as high as 244 mm in the wettest month of April.
Economy
MMTC also contains a multi-billion shilling shopping and residential complex. The city is built using renewable sources of energy including thousands of solar powered street lights and a solar power plant that is expanding to 50 MW. A 36-hole golf resort and residences contains 1,500 rooms, 4,800 residences along the golf course. Other amenities include a planned water park, a convention center and a second large mall built at the airport.Plaza District
The Plaza district is one of the five economic centers of Mwale Medical and Technology City. The district is anchored by the 5,000 patient capacity Hamptons hospital, the innovation park, and commercial centers with shopping, dining, hospitality and residential homes.Hamptons Hospital
Hamptons hospital acquired Kshs. 21 billion equipment in 2021.It was opened in July 2019 with cancer treatment and subsequently opened other departments. The hospital provides free treatment to Kenyans with Social Health Authority cards. It is SHA accredited.
Ambulatory services were launched to provide emergency care to residents in the western region of Kenya. The hospital supports the community in other ways other than providing treatment.
It distributed free solar street lights to schools and the entire county. One billion shillings have been spent on a community lighting program in Kakamega County.
In April 2020, it was announced that Hamptons Hospital would provide 40 beds for Covid-19 patients as well as testing facilities. It is expanding its services to cover the entire Lake Victoria region with the introduction of a Hamptons floating hospital expected to serve an additional 32 million residents living along the shores of Lake Victoria.
Research and Innovation park
The research and innovation park is based at the Plaza district and is welcoming a Sh28 billion data center by the French firm Atos. As the Research Park grows, several other major international firms have already taken space and chosen MMTC as their African headquarters.Hamptons Mall and Residences
Hamptons mall is a multi-billion shilling shopping mall anchored by Mwal-mart supermarket which provides a ready market for the 35,000 residents in the City, to supply their organic produce and for shopping. The mall also contains Hamptons Cafe bed and breakfast and more than 90,000 square feet of private residences; that contain gymnasium and olympic size swimming pool for private residents. These were part of phase 1 of the City construction from 2014 to 2016Industrial District
The industrial district is one of the 5 economic centers of MMTC, and is anchored by a solar power plant. The district runs for 4 Kilometers and has its main two arterial roads; the Power plant road and By-pass road connected by the boulevard.With its emphasis on sustainable development, MMTC has attracted globally-leading technology companies and hundreds of international investors. One such firm is the Miami-based Innova Eco Building System which invested US$40 million in 2019 to build a green eco panels manufacturing plant at MMTC for building the 4800 homes, most of which have already been purchased pre-construction by investors from the US and elsewhere.
These homes, like all facilities in the city, will be powered using 100% renewable energy such as solar. Atlanta-based MCX Environmental Energy Corp has invested US$100 million to build a 30-megawatt solar power plant right in the city, to complement the city's other renewable energy solutions. MMTC's solar power plant came online in 2021.
Golf District
The golf district is the main residential district of MMTC. It consists of the 36 hole beautifully landscaped Hamptons golf course. The district mainly runs along the 9 Kilometer Golf and Church roads, beginning South at Lunza Boys Secondary School, then crossing Hamptons Boulevard to the north and veers North west past School Road at St. Michael School Muluwa. The district then bears West to 12th street at the 35th hole fairway.A majority of the residents in this district are locals who had their homes upgraded in exchange of land. They additionally received rental homes which are rented to MMTC workers. The main economic activity in the golf district is golf tourism, farming and real estate.
Grid District
The Grid district runs along the boulevard for 6 kilometers starting at the first street and continues past the 12th street. The district is zoned for low density housing and unlike the Plaza district, it does not contain high-rise buildings. It runs from East to the West of the City and is situated on beautiful rolling hills with three rivers of Ingoye, Indechesa and Imbanda. the boulevard is lined with large beautiful mansions for residents.Airport District
The airport district is one of the five economic centers of MMTC. It runs on four main arteries with the terminal section next to the School road near Khushibiriri. School road runs for 6 kilometers from South to North East. The 5 kilometer Station road has a ramp for the planned cable car station that is designed to ferry visitors and medical tourists from airport to the hospital at Plaza district. Third golf trail is an entertainment zone for tourists and 4th street is the main residential zone of the airport district. The 4th street contains high-rise apartments for residents and City workers.Influence
Due to MMTC growing popularity, several delegations have conducted benchmarking tours. In June 2023, Botswana’s Vice President Slumber Tsogwane - accompanied by more than a dozen top government officials from Botswana and Kenya, including Botswana's foreign minister Hon. Lemogang Kwape, and Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives and Enterprise Development Hon. Simon Chelugui visited the city and held discussions with lead investor Mwale. Media reports indicated that the discussions centred on expanding Hamptons Hospital to the South African country. In March 2023, MMTC played a host to a high-powered delegation led by the former President of Ethiopia, Dr. Mulatu Teshome. The former president, who was received by MMTC founder Julius Mwale, toured the various districts and expressed admiration for the strides made in transforming the metropolis. He prevailed upon the lead investor to visit Ethiopia and explore similar opportunities. Other than the incoming visits, Mr. Mwale and his lead teams have honored invitations from other African governments including Congo DRC, Congo Brazzaville, Senegal, Zambia, Ghana and Uganda. A section of local and international media sources alleged that the parties are at various stages of signing partnership deals on establishing of similar smart cities or on medical tourism.Inaugural Marathon
On 16 December 2023, MMTC held its inaugural marathon. The event's main aim was to raise funds to support low-income families to afford healthcare premiums of Social Health Insurance Fund /NHIF. The sporting event attracted both local and global elite athletes in the categories of 42 km, 21 km, 10km, 5km and 1600 meters. According to the marathon planners, who included former Kenya Ambassador to the US H.E. Elkanah Odembo, the charity event, which was also the first to be held in the 14 County Lake region economic bloc with 16 million Kenyans, will now occur on annual basis. There are suggestions to improve the aspects of the event to make it the first-label marathon in the history of Kenya.Challenges & controversy
During the development of Mwale Medical and Technology City, it garnered widespread support from the locals, who, in 2018, joined hands with the project leadership to resist attempts by the Kakamega County Government to halt construction works over approval issues. In August 2018, the Kakamega County Government, led by then Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, publicly agreed with the lead investor, Julius Mwale, to set aside their differences and support this community-backed project. The war was not over, however, and the parties later sparred over the hotly disputed leasing of Mumias Sugar Company, which had been placed under receivership. At the end of 2025, Mwale's Tumaz and Tumaz Enterprises finally won with costs the three-year-old case involving the outsted Mumias Sugar receiver-manager Ponangipalli Venkata Ramana Rao and the Kakamega County Government. The amount and collection of the award appear to be pending.Despite the local support and apparent victories against adversarial politicians, MMTC and affiliates have not been without controversy. Founder Julius Mwale and associated entities faced multiple legal challenges over contractual obligations and other business disputes. Several cases brought against Mwale have been deemed by the court to be without merit and dismissed, and in others, the plaintiffs in question were ordered to complete their contractual obligations prior to demanding payment. Remaining disputes appear to be ongoing, with Mwale's team appealing a few High Court of Kenya judgments against them. In the face of such challenges, Mwale's team has stated that they are confident of winning their ongoing appeals.
Of particular note is a 2025 appeal by Tumaz and Tumaz Enterprises in regard to an unusual ruling in which the High Court of Kenya at Nairobi held Mwale and Tumaz and Tumaz Enterprises personally liable to Sifatronix Limited for Sh17 million of a contract that Tumaz and Tumaz Enterprises had awarded to Epic Agencies, for which Sifatronix Limited was a sub-contractor. There has been speculation about whether the rulings and twists in the case have been influenced by an ongoing feud between Mwale's lawyer, Nelson Havi, and the presiding judge in the case, whom Havi has accused publicly of corruption. The appeal is ongoing.