Former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero has asked a Nairobi court not to allow President Uhuru Kenyatta’s personal assistant Jomo Gecaga to hide behind Covid-19 implications to avoid paying rent.
Kidero says going by a tenancy signed in March 2014 by JSTA Limited and GemInvest Ltd and renewed in November 2019, both Covid-19 and goodwill are not unforeseeable circumstances contemplated in the agreement.
He wants the case filed by JSTA dismissed arguing the court cannot be asked to intervene in a private-contractual affair. The company pays rent on behalf of Gecaga.
JSTA is associated with Jomo’s father Udi Gecaga. It went to court to stop Gem from evicting Gecaga from an apartment on Riverside Drive.
Prior to filing the case, JSTA asked Gem to extend an offer to pay Sh250,000 as rent, claiming that the pandemic has weakened and/or interfered with the family business' cash flow.
But Grace Awinda, Gem's projects assistant, says in an affidavit that "out of courtesy, utmost good will and due regard to the prevailing economic circumstances occasioned by Covid-19", they extended an olive branch to JSTA by first applying the security deposited by JSTA of Sh1,084,900 to settle the rent arrears for February and March.
Gem subsequently agreed to JSTA's request to substitute Sh542,450 rent with Sh400,000 from April 1.
On September 11, JSTA sought a further reduction in rent to Sh250,000 per month from September to December but Gem rejected the said request.
Subsequently, Gem issued a termination notice to JSTA on September 17, citing failure to clear the outstanding Sh950,000 as as per the tenancy agreement.
"We hereby request that you vacate the premises not later than 30 September due to inability to fulfil payment of rental obligation as was agreed on following your request on rent reduction, and to date, you have an outstanding balance of Sh950,000," the notice stated.
Awinda says that in the event the court finds goodwill and Covid-19 are unforeseeable circumstances, JSTA has still failed to demonstrate that there were no reasonable steps they could have taken to mitigate the event of its consequences.
She also says JSTA failed to demonstrate that their non-performance was due to circumstances beyond control.
JSTA has asked the court to restrain Gem from harassing, illegally evicting the tenant, or interfering with the tenancy agreement.
It says unless the court intervenes, it will be greatly prejudiced, not to mention the embarrassment that would be caused if GemInvest instructs auctioneers to levy distress and attempt to evict Gecaga.
- mwaniki fm
