Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho has been locked out of his city office over Ksh5 million rent arrears.
According to a report by The Standard, the county boss was among 15 governors who could not access their Nairobi offices located at Delta House, Westlands.
The publication reported that the governors could no longer access their offices from Monday, February 3, over the arrears and expiry of their leases.
"Please note the lease between the CoG and the landlord is coming to an end at the midnight of January 31, 2020.
"In compliance with the lease agreement, the Council of Governors will hand over the premises back to the landlord," read part of the letter that was signed by Rosemary Njaramba.
The letter was dated Friday, January 31.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, a representative from the CoG declined to comment on the matter explaining that she was not well versed with the details of the lease agreement.
Others locked out of the offices include the governors of; Baringo, Bungoma, Nyeri, Tharaka Nithi, Migori, Mandera, Turkana, Samburu, Kisumu, Lamu, Kitui, Isiolo and Vihiga.
The amounts owed include: Ksh5 million (Mombasa), Ksh2.6 million (Baringo), Ksh2.6 million (Migori) and Ksh2.2 million (Bungoma).
Others are; Ksh2.2 million (Nyeri), Ksh1.4 million (Tharaka Nithi) and Ksh2.7 million (Kisumu).
The landlord reportedly expects the CoG to clear the debt before the respective counties vacate the premises.
The two parties had been locked in a battle over the arrears since June 2019 when the proprietor of the building, Knight Frank, ordered them to settle over Ksh44 million debt.
“In the event that the outstanding debt is not paid in full by the aforementioned date, we have instructions from the landlord to withhold services in addition to taking other legal measures provided in the lease to recover the same,” read a letter dated June 4, 2019.
