Court Orders The Liquidation Of Tuskys Supermarket

The High Court of Kenya has ordered the liquidation of Tuskys Supermarket. This brings to an end a retail giant that was once East Africa’s biggest family-owned retail chain, and once Kenya’s vibrant supermarket that dominated the whole country.

At the time of going down, Tuskys Supermarket employed at least 5,000 people directly, and about 20,000 indirectly. They all lost their sources of income after working for months without pay. Many sunk into depression and some died.

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At one time, Tuskys Supermarket offered to bail out Nakumatt Supermarket, another retail chain that died a terrible and shocking death. When Nakumatt finally died, Tuskys took over more than 10 spaces that had been left, paid rent, and established its business in them.

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Justice David Majanja ruled that there was no hope of resurrecting Tuskys Supermarket which owes creditors more than 20 billion shillings. Sadly, the Supermarket only has assets worth 6 billion shillings. This means even with liquidation, it will still owe more than 14 billion shillings.

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The liquidation petition was filed by Hotpoint Appliances and was supported by more than 12 creditors. The judge said the petition has been on for more than three years and that there was no hope of reviving Tuskys at this point in time.

The Judge said Tuskys has not objected to owing 19.7 billion shillings to its suppliers, saying that the only prudent thing to do is to appoint a liquidator who will try and “salvage something for the creditors, many of whom had lost hope of ever getting something.

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Woes at Tuksys started when the founder and owner, Joram Kamau, died in 2002. His children started fighting over the control of the vast business leading to endless battles that at last cost them the business.

Top management at the supermarket also started looting both the cash and goods, leaving the shelves empty with no one to pay the suppliers.

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