Mamba Village restaurant facing closure over Sh5.9 million debt
The restaurant in Mamba Village, off Langata Road in Nairobi.
A law firm has moved to court seeking to declare Nairobi’s popular restaurant Mamba Village insolvent over a debt of Sh5.9 million.
In a petition to be heard in two weeks’ time, Kagwimi Kang’ethe & Co Advocates says the restaurant, which is located 13 kilometres from the city centre, has failed or refused to pay the debt since 2018.
The firm says it has made repeated requests to the management for payment or part settlement but the restaurant hears nothing of the sort.
“More than 21 days have lapsed since the petitioner served a statutory demand on the company for payment of the debt on 4th June 2021 but the company has failed to pay the debt or any part of the debt or comply with the statutory demand,” the firm said adding that there is no application to lift the demand.
If allowed, the law firm wants an official receiver appointed to liquidate the restaurant. The notice to declare Mamba Village insolvent has also been published in the Kenya Gazette.
The firm through lawyer George Kang’ethe wants the restaurant dissolved because it is unable to pay its dues.
The debt arises from a case filed by National Bank of Kenya against Mamba Village in 2005. Then, the lender granted a loan to Mamba Village, which was secured by charging a parcel of land on Lang’ata Road registered in the name of Muturi Investments Limited.
The eatery instructed the law firm to defend it and the firm filed a defence for the court to declare that NBK was not entitled to claim against the principal debtor (Mamba) because of an alleged breach of contract of lending.
Court documents stated that the law firm was instructed to protect a property that was valued at Sh163.5 million then. And after successfully defending Mamba, the law firm asked to be paid Sh2.5 million as instruction fees plus other charges, amounting to Sh7.2 million. The amount was later reviewed downwards by the court.
The restaurant later challenged the fee arguing it was excessive but the case was dismissed by the High Court.
The advocate now wants to be paid Sh5.9 million plus interest from November 2018 when the case was decided.
At its prime, Mamba Village, which became synonymous with blankets and wine, was also home to more than 70 Nile crocodiles. The animal is Africa’s largest croc weighting up to 730 kilogrammes and reaching six metres.
The insolvency case will be heard next week.
