An employee re-stocks a cooler as customers shop in a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi on July 22, 2017.Once a Kenyan success story, homegrown Nakumatt supermarkets are grappling with product shortages so severe even the country's best-known cartoonist has taken notice, lampooning the company's slogan in a recent drawing as, 'You need it, we don't have it'. The dizzying fall of East Africa's largest retailer has been blamed on a combination of bad management, misguided expansion plans and increased competition, and many industry insiders say the damage wrought on the company is so severe that it may not survive. SIMON MAINA/AFP/Getty Images
The High Court in Mombasa has stopped Nakumatt’s former landlords, Ideal Location Limited, from leasing the mall to a new tenant until the rental dispute is heard and determined, the Standard reports.
Nakumatt’s Chief Executive Officer CEO Atul Shah through his lawyer D. Ngonze had sought for orders restraining the landlord from removing remaining goods and fixtures from the premises until the matter is heard and determined.
On Monday, Justice Charles Yano issued orders stopping Ideal Location Limited from renting out the mall. Nakumatt has been occupying the premise since June 14 2009.
“There will be no further dealings pending the ruling or appeal of this matter whichever comes first. The defendants ‘Nakumatt’ are hereby responsible for payment of profit equivalent to the rent payable for this period,” said Justice Yano.
In March 5 2018, Ideal Location Limited obtained a court order from Justice Yano to evict Nakumatt from the premises over a rental debt of KSh27, 812,108 (about UShs1bn).
Justice Yano had found Nakumatt in breach of the sub-lease agreement dated June 14 2009 with Ideal Location Limited and had accrued arrears amounting to a tune of KSh28million (UShs1bn) as at November 1 2017. Ideal Location Limited lawyer Willies Oluga said that a new client had already signed a contract to enter the premises.
