No Debt Owed by Somali Embassy in Kenya, Former Ambassador Nur Tarsan Says
GOOBJOOG NEWS | NAIROBI: Former Somali ambassador to Kenya Mohamud Ahmed Nur Tarsan has denied claims that the Somali Embassy in Kenya owes a contractor an estimate $256,000 million.
Responding to a recent lawsuit filed by the contractor demanding payment for renovation works at the embassy, Tarsan said that there is no debt owed to the Somali Embassy in Kenya.
The former ambassador stated that he handed over the office to the current ambassador and that he had cleared all outstanding debts saying he had engaged lawyers to challenge the lawsuit in court.
“I wrote a letter to the new ambassador that I have no debt in the embassy, no debt of any kind, whether it is salary or anything else relating to contracts,” the former ambassador said.
A recent ruling by the Kenyan high court dismissed an application by Somalia’s Attorney General to lift an order attaching its bank accounts over a Sh25.6 million debt owed to a Kenyan contractor.
The order which had been granted to Kingsley Construction Limited in the previous year had attached Somalia’s accounts at Premier Bank Limited.
The case stems from a successful lawsuit by Kingsley Construction Limited against the Government of Somalia in 2019, alleging breach of contract for the renovation of Somalia’s embassy in Nairobi.
However, Somalia challenged the decision, arguing that it enjoyed diplomatic immunity, rendering the decision illegal.
But in his ruling, Justice Mabeya rejected this argument, asserting that Somalia cannot invoke sovereign immunity to evade legal accountability for its commercial dealings.
In an affidavit, Somalia argued that Kenya and Somalia are sovereign equals under International Law, and therefore the embassy and its officials should enjoy immunity before Kenyan courts.
Further, Somalia argued that the court had been misled into enforcing execution against the bank accounts of a foreign sovereign state’s embassy.
The affidavit also stated that the attached bank accounts contained funds from application and processing fees paid by individuals seeking passports and visas at the embassy.
The dispute originated in 2019 when Kingsley Construction Limited sued the embassy over a 2016 contract to renovate its premises in Nairobi.
Ambassador Tarsan served as Somalia’s ambassador to Kenya since 2018, and during his tenure he played a significant role in strengthening the relationship between the two countries.
He was an ambassador for peace and stability in East Africa and the Horn of Africa.