Traders evicted as duty free shops repossessed

Duty free shops have been repossessed by the airports authority.

The tenants were evicted and their goods removed on Wednesday night.

The 17 shops and two lounges associated with controversial businessman Kamlesh Pattni at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport were repossessed after the expiry of the lease.

The shops were the subject of a protracted court battle between Mr Pattni and the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA).

Officials said shop owners had been informed but a trader denied this, saying they were given one hour to remove their merchandise to a parking yard.

The shop owners said the almost 300 people hired to carry out the evictions looted and damaged their merchandise and accused police and airport security of failing to stop them.

Safety and security manager Eric Kiraithe dismissed the claims.

Trader Hafiz Khan said police did not arrest those found with looted goods. “Cameras, smart phones and watches were stolen by the hired men,” he said.

At Moi International Airport in Mombasa, shop owners were ordered to vacate the premises at about 2am as staff were preparing for the morning arrivals.

“All the shops were brought down. We have incurred a loss of close to Sh100 million. It is unfortunate that a government department can just come in and demolish a customs bonded warehouse without notification,” a manager at Mombasa Kenya Duty Free Shops, Mr Charles Makathimo, said.
The demolitions also happened at Wilson Airport in Nairobi.

Mr Makathimo accused KAA of wasting public fund, saying that they were the same people in the last three months responsible for putting up the walls and improving the face of the international departure lounges and were the same bring the duty free shops down.

Mombasa Coast Tourism Association executive member Mrs Millicent Adhiambo  said the demolishing of the shops have a spiral effect on the impression to the tourists visiting the country. She said this act is a show of disregard of the welfare of the citizens in the country.

“When we suddenly dismantle the duty free shops means that we have not looked at the impact on tourism. We want to request the government to ensurethat anything that really touches on tourism is handled with a bit more caution. One single action can take a different message out there and destroy our beautiful image that we are strruggling to keep.”

The demolition exercise was concurrent with others taking place at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and Wilson airport in Nairobi.