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An aerial view of Bujumbura city.
Early last year, three men arrived in Bujumbura, Burundi, for an oil-sector assignment organised by their Nairobi-based employer, Eshcol Energy Solution Limited.
Kenyans Victor Wakhungu and Paul Wangila, and Tanzanian Kitinde Lawrence Juliana, checked into Mt Zion Hotel under the official protocol of Burundi’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, an arrangement that conveyed both legitimacy and security.
The terms seemed clear and straightforward. Eshcol Energy would cover accommodation, meals and incidental expenses while the men focused on their technical work. With ministerial protocol and corporate assurances in place, they had little reason to question the arrangement.
However, by September 2025, each man had accumulated 117 unpaid nights. The accommodation bill alone had reached Sh2.4 million, alongside nearly 30 million Burundian francs in additional charges.
Having exhausted patience and diplomatic channels, the hotel management filed a police complaint, not against Eshcol Energy, but against the three men.
The complaint, dated September 1, 2025, listed each worker by name and nationality, holding them individually liable for the mounting debt.
An aerial view of Bujumbura city.
For Mr Wakhungu, Mr Wangila and Mr Kitinde, the implications were devastating: potential legal action in a foreign country for bills they neither negotiated nor agreed to pay, incurred while carrying out work assigned by their employer.
What began as a routine assignment had transformed into an ordeal that raised unsettling questions about corporate accountability and worker dignity.
The lobby of the hotel soon became an unlikely holding zone for the Kenyans and Tanzanian whose professional lives had now been suspended in a bureaucratic and financial nightmare not of their making.
The plight of the trio would later be brought to light by Pastor Joseph Abuto, who raised concerns over their continued confinement at the hotel despite partial payment of an outstanding bill.
According to Mr Abuto, who shared documents to support his claims, he was forced to seek help for the three men after their employer appeared to have gone quiet on them.
“These are people well known to me. Despite countless attempts to have the company settle their bills, nothing has been achieved. In all fairness, you cannot send someone out of the country on an assignment and then abandon them among strangers in a foreign land, leaving their bills unpaid,” Mr Abuto said during a visit to the Nation Media Group offices in Kisumu.
From the documents seen by the Daily Nation, as at October 24, 2025, the debt stood at Sh6.2 million, a figure that continues to rise each day as the men wait for a resolution that remains frustratingly out of reach.
Speaking on the phone from Bujumbura, Mr Wakhungu confirmed that he was still staying at the hotel, but downplayed the situation as a business-related delay rather than outright abandonment.
“Yes, I am at Mt Zion Hotel, but no one is stranded. There are just some delays here and there, but all is well. This is business and things like this happen,” he said, adding that efforts to resolve the matter were ongoing.
No solution in sight
Yet, as September gave way to October, November and December, Mr Wakhungu and his colleagues remained detained. The bill continued to climb, reaching Sh9.8 million by Monday, with no solution in sight.
Their employer’s finance director, Patricia Adhiambo, is said to have been responding to repeated reminders from the hotel with assurances of payment that never materialise.
Eventually, the company’s legal director, Rosemary Kamathi, issued an apology letter to the hotel citing investment complications and promising imminent payment once a Qatari investor signed a memorandum of understanding.
Bujumbura is the capital city of Burundi.
In mid-September, Ms Kamathi transferred Sh387,000 as a “gesture of goodwill” — barely 6 per cent of the outstanding debt at the time. Since then, there has been silence.
The Kenya Embassy in Burundi, which was copied on the complaint, has offered consular support but is unable to settle private debts.
Tanzanian authorities face similar limitations in advocating for Mr Kitinde. Diplomatic protocols and cross-border legal frameworks offer little practical relief.
The hotel’s manager, Niyongabo Didier, said that the men will remain held at the facility until the outstanding accommodation and related bills are settled in full.
“The three individuals are still staying at the hotel, with unpaid bills yet to be cleared. The establishment has continued offering limited services despite non-payment,” he said.
Mr Didier explained that the trio had indicated they were working for Eshcol Energy, but the hotel was initially unable to verify the company’s existence, prompting the matter to be reported to authorities.
He added that the Sh387,000 payment received in September was accompanied by assurances that the full bill would be settled by the end of that month—promises that were never honoured.
He said the hotel would now formally write again to the company, copying the relevant embassy, warning that further action may be taken if the matter is not resolved within seven days.
Efforts to reach Eshcol Energy through a phone number listed on its documents led to contact with Ms Juliet Akumba, who acknowledged the inquiry and said she would call back after the purpose of the call was explained.
By the time of publication, no further response had been received, either by phone or email.
