11th Hour Intervention Saves Kamuthi Housing From Losing 3b Investments.
Six hours of intensive lobbying and persuasion by the
management board of Kamuthi Housing Society Ltd. Saturday evening salvaged a sh.3
Billion investment from the auctioneer’s hammer.
According to the committee’s report read during their 2016
Annual General Meeting (A.G.M.) held at their Head office’s Maziwa Estate, the
society had up to Sunday 8th May 2016 to raise sh. 4.7million meant to
clear bank loan arrears for the two loans of sh. 292 million and sh. 401
million, owed to Sidian Bank (Formerly K-Rep) and Co-operative Bank
respectively.
Sidian Bank was demanding the company to clear sh. 72
million in arrears for the purchase of their 1,233 Acre-Phase II Project (Buffalo
Hills Leisure & Golf Village) while Co-operative Bank wanted a monthly
instalment of sh. 6.4million for the loan they advanced to Kamuthi in order for
them to buy their 400 Acre-Phase III Project (Soya Dam Estate).
According to their chairperson Mr. Bernard Maina, the company
was facing serious financial and marketing challenges due to the more than a billion
shillings worth of liabilities. Other than the bank loans, they were also indebted with sh. 441m to pay the vender of the Soya Dam Estate land. These
outstanding loans and unpaid debts, he added, had made it very difficult for
them to move ahead in the processing of individual members’ title deeds as well
as securing potential clients to buy the parcels available for sale in their
two projects.
To save their image as a leading co-operative society in the
real estate industry, each of the 7,000 members was expected to raise sh.
80,000 within 4 months starting February this year as agreed in their previous
Special General Meeting (S.G.M.).
The company also resolved to dispose of 108 Acres set aside
for the Golf Course in Soya Dam Estate to any developer who will develop the
same. The chairman also pleaded with the members to restore the management’s ‘borrowing
powers’ in a view to enable it run office and to have the current loans and other
financial obligations be covered.
Convincing the more than 1,500 members who were present in
the meeting was a hard nut to crack and it had to take the management until
very late in the evening to achieve this.
Tension was very high especially in the morning hours as
there were fears that some people had hired gangs to cause chaos in order to
force the current office bearers out. There erupted some bitter exchange of
words between a section of the members and the management, with the irate
membership accusing the management of running down the company through misappropriation
of funds.
Eventually, emotions cooled off and the meeting proceeded though
with so many points of orders. The members agreed to support the management and
pay their dues as agreed.
No comments: