NSSF closes Nakumatt Lifestyle

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) have evicted Nakumatt Supermarkets from Hazina Trade Centre over four-month rent arrears.

NSSF, which obtained court orders to evict the troubled supermaket chain, Friday morning shut down Nakumatt Lifestyle and clamped its vehicles dealing a further blow to the retailer.

“These premises have been closed. All enquiries to be directed to the landlords’ managing agents,” the pensions fund said in a notice signed by real estate Consultant Wycliffe Ongwae. The building is managed by Tysons Limited.

Nakumatt has been reeling from mounting debts that has also seen it evicted from Garden City Mall and Junction Mall, where it was also the anchor tenant. The space has since been taken up by French retailer, Carrefour.

A bid to salvage its fortunes by reaching a deal with Tusker Mattresses, which owns Tuskys Supermarkets, was jolted after it was rejected by the Competition Authority, which said the application should be rectified as it had been filed under a wrong legal clause.

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Key suppliers have also kept off due piling arrears. So far, 15 Nakumatt branches have been shut down, four of them in neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania.

Nakumatt Lifestyle, which operates on a 24-hour basis, is estimated to serve 5,000 clients on a daily basis. It had 95 full-time employees whose fate is now unknown as the dispute is unlikely to be resolved quickly given that the retain chain is in dire straits.