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Broke government defaults on rent, civil servants locked out


Hundreds of civil servants have been loitering in the city centre this week after their offices were locked out by a landlord because the government defaulted paying rent estimated to run into millions of shillings.

The civil servants, attached to the the Ministry of Sports, Culture and the Arts, have been locked out of their offices in Uchumi House since Monday.

Doors to their offices have been locked by chains and padlocks by the landlord who has refused to grant them assess until all arrears are settled.

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NO EXPLANATION

No explanation has been forthcoming from ministry officials.

The Sports Ministry occupies the third and eleventh floors of the building located on Aga Khan Walk. The two floors house the department of library services.

The Minister Hassan Wario and his Principal Secretary Patrick Omutia operate from the neighbouring Kencom house.

The deserted corridor on third floor. PHOTO | NAIROBI NEWS
The deserted corridor on third floor. PHOTO | NAIROBI NEWS

A visit by Nairobi News to Uchumi House confirmed that the landlord has locked out the civil servants.

Guards manning the building have been strictly instructed not to allow anyone access the affected offices.

 

“There is nobody in those offices. The workers have been locked out after government failed to pay rent,” one of the guards told our team.

Our team took the lifts to third floor and found doors leading to the offices locked with chains and padlocks.

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PICTURES AND VIDEOS

We even had time to take a couple of photos and a video of the locked doors!

One of the affected civil servants confirmed to us that the workers have not been working since Monday.

“We are just loitering here since Monday. There is no word from anyone on the way forward,” he said.

A spokesman at the Ministry of Sports confirmed the stalemate.

“I am just back in the country at the moment and I have not been briefed properly on the update, but the time I left, we were trying to process monies to reduce the arrears,” he said.