Newton Kagira Mukuha, the owner of Greenmart supermarket and one of Naivas Supermarket founders’ sons. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU
By SIMON CIURI
In Summary
- Massmart now looks set to enter the Kenyan market alone after it booked a space at the upcoming Garden City Mall on Thika Road, Nairobi.
Newton Kagira Mukuha is not one to shy away from a
good fight. And, he says he is not about to give up his fight with his
siblings for a stake in Naivas Supermarket.
Conflicts in the successful retail chain first emerged when
Mr Kagira sued his kin claiming he had not been given his rightful
inheritance.
In the course of the family feud, the 65-year-old’s
image and personality have often taken a beating. So even before we sat
down for an interview after 12 failed attempts, he was keen to set the
record straight.
“Don’t think you will be meeting a broke drunkard
who has squandered all his money and investments on alcohol,” Mr
Kagira said on the phone before the interview.
“I am a family man who operates a business that
generates money for me. I am neither poor nor rich, but I am not
struggling either,” he said when we finally met for the interview at a
small hotel on Accra Road, Nairobi.
“I want to expand Greenmart Supermarket. It’s small at the moment, but it has the potential to grow just like Naivas.”
The supermarket located in Nairobi’s Kayole estate
has 25 employees and is the subject of an auction suit that nearly saw
family members sell it to recover a Sh12.1 million debt said to have
been advanced by Mr Kagira’s late mother to prop up his business.
He has obtained Court of Appeal order blocking the
auction. But even as the case goes on, the two-year family feud has
already cost Naivas a lucrative 51 per cent sale deal to South African
retail giant Massmart after Mr Kagira obtained a court order blocking
the transaction.
Massmart now looks set to enter the Kenyan market
alone after it booked a space at the upcoming Garden City Mall on Thika
Road, Nairobi.
Mr Kagira said he is not bothered by the lost
opportunity pointing out that his idea is to establish his own outfit
and exit from the family business.
And he reckoned that Sh250 million, viewed against
the accumulated wealth since Naivas started operating 25 years ago is a
fair compensation.
Mr Kagira said that family members have approached
him with the view of having an out- of-court settlement to avoid public
embarrassment to the family.
“Yes talks have taken place, but I was not
satisfied with the directions they were taking and I decided that since
the matter is in the public domain, let the law take its course and
give the way forward,” said Mr Kagira.
He said through out his personal and business d
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