Auctioneer goes for late minister Njenga Karume’s Jacaranda Hotel

NAIROBI, KENYA: Auctioneers are seeking to dispose of Iconic Jacaranda Hotel in Nairobi’s Westlands area by mid next month.

A newspaper advertisement placed by Regent Auctioneers puts March 12 as the deadline for the disposal of the property linked to prominent politician late Njenga Karume.

“All intending purchasers are requested to view and verify the details by themselves, a refundable deposit of Sh5,000, 000 must be paid to obtain a bidding number,” a notice in local dailies read.

The property is a 128 bedroomed four-star hotel with ensuite bathrooms, satellite tv, and wireless internet connections. The hotel development comprises the main hotel block in three wings incorporating the hotel reception, lounge, bedrooms among other facilities.

According to earlier newspaper reports, this is not the first time the hotel is advertised for auction.

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) went after the hotel first over a Sh95 million tax arrears demand. KRA had sent auctioneers to recover the amount in 2019 prompting the trustees to seek court’s intervention.

“The applicant is apprehensive that if this matter is not heard, the respondent’s agents will proceed any time to attach and sell the distrainable chattels thus bringing the applicant’s business to a halt,” the trustees argued.

The hotel had paid KRA Sh15 million, and at the same time floated a proposal to offset the remaining amount in 12 to 18 monthly installments.

But KRA sent a demand that it should offset Sh50 million and clear the remainder within three months.

The Westlands-based hotel placed a counter-offer that it would pay Sh35 million in a week and clear the remainder within a year. Jacaranda has been described as the single most important asset owned by the late Defence minister Njenga Karume.

The sale would complicate an already dire financial situation that the family is finding itself in after failing to agree on how to share the vast inheritance previously valued at Sh17.8 billion.

Other assets left behind by the late tycoon include real estate, swathes of land under coffee plantations, and shares in various companies.