Court Declines to Stop Planned Auction of Njenga Karume’s Jacaranda Hotel in Nairobi

The High Court on Tuesday declined to stop the planned auction of Nairobi’s Jacaranda Hotel, which is owned by the late Kenyan cabinet minister Njenga Karume.

Justice Wilfrida Okwany ordered the hotel to pay Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) KSh4.5 million as part of clearing the huge arrears it owes the lender. The judge said the payment must be made directly to the bank and not any other parties including, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), by Friday this week.

The four-star hotel located in the Westlands area, Nairobi, has been earmarked for sale to recover a KSh257.6 million loan owed to GTB bank. Although the court declined to stop the proposed auction, it barred the bank from publishing more notices, saying it impacts on Karume's estate.

The hotel, which is among the few surviving businesses left behind by Karume before his death in 2012, has 128 bedrooms and sits on a 3.5-acre parcel of land. The auction has been set for January 22nd, 2020.

On Tuesday, the trustees moved to court seeking to stop the planned auction, describing the hotel as the jewel of the Karume Empire. The bank had placed an auction notice in newspapers on Monday. Justice Okwany ordered the parties to negotiate ahead of the hearing set for January 20th.