Property belonging to Garissa county government at risk of being auctioned

Property belonging to the Garissa county government is at risk of being auctioned this week if it fails to pay Sh8 million office rent for the last four years.

The county’s Trade department of has been operating from a building owned by businessman Mahat Kuno without paying for it.

According to documents in our possession, Mr Kuno leased the building to the county government in September 2013 and they agreed that he would be receiving Sh90,000 for the two wings in the building.

When contacted, Governor Nathif Jama said he did not have details on the issue.

“I will have to talk to County secretary (Mr Muhamud Mursal) to get the details of this issue. On that I have to cross check and I can tell you later. As far as I know our county headquarters are in former Provincial headquarters,” he said. He did not come back to us.

The county wrote to Mr Kuno seeking to lease the building in August 2013. The first lease thus commenced in November 2013 and the next started in July 2014.

When Mr Kuno agreed to the request, the terms of the lease were that the county government would pay security deposit of Sh270,000 for each wing, being an equivalent of three months’ rent and would not at any time have less than three months’ rent depending on the rate of the rent.

TWO YEARS

Having not received a cent for the lease two years later, Mr Kuno then moved to the Environment and Land Division Court in Meru in 2015 seeking orders to compel the county to pay the outstanding rent that had accumulated at the time to Sh3 million.

“The Defendant is currently in possession of the premises which it uses as its offices. The defendant occupies both wings and has continued to enjoy quiet possession of the same without any interference as of the date of filing suit,” noted Mr Kuno in his affidavit.

The High Court in Meru declined to issue a summary judgment (judgement without full trial) against the county government despite there being no defence entered by the Nadhif-administration.

The court argued that the county government has to enter a defence first since the law stipulated that the court cannot enter a summary judgement in a suit touching on the government. The county government did not enter a defence and the case has not moved further since then.

Before he moved to court, Mr Kuno had pleaded with the county government to pay its outstanding arrears.

'DEMAND LETTER'

“On April 2, 2015 my lawyers issued a demand letter to the defendant to pay the amount due and outstanding. The defendant has failed to pay the same. This suit is thus necessary in order to compel the defendant to pay the rent due and owing,” he says in the suit papers.

As it stands, the county government owes Mr Kuno Sh8,776,601.

In November 2016 he engaged the services of Recovery Services Auctioneers in order to recover the outstanding debt.

The auctioneers notified the county government on the intention to recover the money by issuing a proclamation notice on November 6, 2016.

Some of the property targeted for seizure and subsequent auction include motor vehicles – two Prados valued at Sh1 million each, a Land Cruiser valued at Sh800,000, a fire engine worth Sh1.5 million and Renault also worth Sh 1.5 million.