Man allowed to store former president Moi’s chair after govt failed to pay him millions

By , K24 Digital
On Mon, 6 Dec, 2021 16:21 | 2 mins read
The presidential seat. PHOTO/COURTESY

A businessman has been allowed by the court to keep a presidential seat in a private museum of his choice after failing to reach an agreement with the government.

Solomon Njoroge Kiore has been battling the government over the payment of the seat for the last 30 years which he said cost ksh195 million, a debt he now claims has risen to Ksh700 million.

Court ordered Kiore to keep the seat that he said was returned to him by the government after it was used by the President. This is after Arthuri Igeri, a mediator, told the court that the government was non-compliant to solve the matter.

"This court has issued an order that the applicant (Kiore) do seek an alternative storage in any institution or museum of his choice with maximum security instruments in issue free of charge or with minimum charges until the case is determined," the court ruled on August 5 as reported by a local publication.

In 2020, Furncon Limited, Kiore's company and the government had agreed to a court annexed mediation to end the matter revolving around the seat, but Igeria notes that the Attorney-General failed to attend several sessions.

"The Attoney General has consistently failed to comply with the mediation directions by not filing a case summary and not attending mediation sessions," the mediator said.

After the mediation failed, Kiore went back to the court seeking to keep the chair to a museum of his liking. According to him, the seat was an instrument of power since a Head of State had already used it.

He told the court that the security of the seat had incurred him a lot of money ever since the case began therefore it needed to be stored in an international museum.

He has since written to various international organizations including the Commonwealth to help him safely keep the seat.

The case rose from a contract signed with the government in 1992 so that his company would supply presidential furniture. The deal, however, went sour after the military returned the seats after being used by President Daniel Moi for two years.