Simmers Restaurant in Nairobi. FILE
By GALGALLO FAYO
In Summary
- The family of the late Arthur Magugu has accused Mr Murunga of using the court to avoid paying rent for the plot that the Magugus claim they co-own with a firm called Nilestar.
- Mr Murunga claims to own the premises he has rented for years from Nilestar Holdings Limited on grounds that he was awarded the property in 2011 by Commissioner of Lands after its lease expired four years ago.
The family of the late Cabinet minister Arthur Magugu is locked in a legal battle with Kimilili MP Suleiman Murunga over the ownership of the premises housing Simmers Restaurant in Nairobi.
Wairimu Magugu, the widow of the former Finance
minister, has accused Mr Murunga of using the court to avoid paying rent
for the plot that the Magugus claim they co-own with a firm called
Nilestar.
Mr Murunga claims to own the premises he has
rented for years from Nilestar Holdings Limited on grounds that he was
awarded the property in 2011 by Commissioner of Lands after its lease
expired four years ago.
He moved to court seeking a restraining order
against Nilestar Holdings — which in mid-December threatened to evict
Simmers from the prime property at the junction of Kenyatta Avenue and
Mundi Mbingu Street over Sh1.62 million rent arrears.
Mrs Magugu claims that the MP’s allotment letter
is not genuine, adding she has not received notification from the State
indicating that her application for the renewal of the lease has been
rejected.
“The applicant (Mr Murunga) has come to this
honourable court knowing that he has nowhere to go to protect himself
which is only buying time to fulfil his own selfish ends and to deny the
respondents their entitlement to the rent arrears,” says Mrs Magugu.
“He ought to have come to the honourable court way
back in November 2011 when he obtained the purported letter of
allotment. It then follows that the purported letter of allotment raises
eyebrows on its authenticity,” says Mrs Magugu. Nilestar says it had
not received a notification from the Lands minister to the effect that
its application for renewal has been rejected.
Mrs Magugu asked the court to summon Mr P.K
Kahuho, who allegedly issued the allotment letter on behalf of the
Commissioner of Lands to explain the circumstances under which he issued
the letter.
She wondered why Mr Murunga paid rents till March despite the legislator indicating that he acquired the property in 2011.
The widow claimed that the allotment letter could
not have been issued in November as claimed by the MP given the courts
had stopped trading on the land due to a dispute between the Magugus and
NileStar over the premises.
Mr Murunga said he applied and received and
allotment letter on November 3, 2011 from the Commissioner of Lands
after paying Sh2.4 million, claiming that Nilestar’s lease renewal bid
in October 2009 was rejected.
The MP clinched the Kimilili Constituency seat in
the General Election in March last year. Mr Murunga says ownership of
the plot by Nilestar lapsed when its 99-year lease ended in December
2009, adding that the firm has no right to demand rent for the three
years.
Mr Magugu who died in 2012 owned hundreds of acres of land in Nairobi.
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