Jamia mall tenants up in arms over ‘un-Islamic charges’
Jamia Mall owners are locked in a tussle with their tenants over payment of fresh goodwill charges as a condition for renewing lease contracts.
The tenants have now reached out to the Jamia Mosque Committee and the Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims.
The tenants say the mall’s owners, Soko Realty Limited, want them to pay a new goodwill following the expiry of the initial 10-year lease contract. The contract expired last year.
During a press briefing on Tuesday morning, the chairman of the Kenya Muslim Caucus Mr Issa Ahmed termed the repayment of goodwill as illegal according to Islamic laws.
According to Mr Ahmed, the initial contract had stipulated that upon expiry of the 10-year lease, the same would be renewed on mutual agreement between the parties. Also no further goodwill shall be payable by the tenants.
“We understand from a legal perspective that the landlord cannot get goodwill from the tenants twice. If at all any goodwill is to be paid, the same should be paid by any incoming tenant to the current occupants,” says Mr Ahmed.
Soko Realty Limited is owned by nine individuals who leased the land where the mall stands for 25 years.
