President Uhuru Kenyatta’s personal aide Jomo Gecaga and former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero are battling over Sh950,000 rent arrears.
Gecaga has rushed to court through a company identified as JSTA to stop GemInvest Limited from kicking him out of the apartments in Riverside Drive, Nairobi, over rent arrears after the expiry of a two-year tenancy agreement they entered on March 28, 2014.
Gecaga is blaming the outbreak of Covid-19 for undermining his ability to meet monthly rent obligations. He further claims that things got serious after tough containment measures were imposed by the government and international community that affected many business.
“We had indicated our commitment going forward to at least pay on a monthly basis Sh250,000 commencing September to December while awaiting the resumption of normalcy,” JSTA said.
Court documents show that GEM issued JSTA with a tenancy termination notice on September 17. It also instructed JSTA to clear outstanding arrears of Sh950,000, renovate the apartment and vacate the house by September 30.
JSTA argues that Kidero’s GEMInvest’s decision to terminate its tenancy agreement was harsh and did not consider the tough economic times occasioned by the Covid pandemic.
The case will be heard at the Milimani Law courts on Tuesday.
The letter signed by Sellesa Adhiambo who is the projects assistant at GemInvest Ltd is accusing the president’s personal assistant of refusing to pay Sh400,000 as rent security deposit to enter a new lease after the previous one expired.
“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 letter reads in part.
