Tanzania is embroiled in a case in which it risks losing one of its properties in Nairobi over a Ksh42 million ($484,533) debt.

The case is traceable to January 31, 2000 when the High Court of Zanzibar ordered that Kenyan businessman J. S. Kinyanjui and Lamshore Ltd be paid $484,533 for supplying rice to the Isles government.

The businessman moved to the Kenyan High Court and sought the execution of the judgment delivered 14 years ago after he was unable to get the money in Zanzibar.

Mr Kinyanjui filed an application for orders to attach and sell a piece of land belonging to the United Republic of Tanzania in a prime area of Nairobi as a way of recovering the money he was awarded.

Alarmed by the move and the possibility of the plot located in Upper Hill area being auctioned off, the Tanzanian government has asked to be joined in the case, arguing that, as owner of the property targeted for the requested auction, it is directly affected and should be part of the case.

It sought an order to stop the attachment of the land, on which Tanzania plans to build its new high commission premises, until its application is heard and determined.

Both the government and the applicant have made their submissions and are now waiting for the court to decide whether or not the land should be sold.

According to reports reaching The Citizen from Nairobi Wednesday, the Tanzanian government says in its submission in the High Court that it is in conflict with the intended sale of its property because even the initial hearing in Zanzibar took place without its involvement.

The government has further sought to convince judges in Nairobi that the Zanzibar verdict cannot be enforced against the United Republic of Tanzania.

It maintained that the government of Zanzibar and the government of the United Republic of Tanzania are two separate legal entities, and one cannot carry out the responsibilities of the other.

According to the submissions, the Union government wants the court and the applicant to pin the civil liability matter on the government of Zanzibar.

Contacted for comment Wednesday, Zanzibar Attorney General Othman Masoud Othman said he was aware of the case, but added that Mr Kinyanjui unsuccessfully filed an application, which sought the execution of the judgment delivered by the High Court of Zanzibar.

He said Lamshore Ltd had entered into an agreement with the now defunct Bizanje, a company formerly owned by the Zanzibar government, which was responsible for buying cereals and grains.

Mr Othman added that it was agreed that Lamshore Ltd supply rice to Bizanje, which had expected the Zanzibar government to provide the money, but the government made it clear that it was not ready to finance the deal.

This led to the termination of the agreement, prompting Mr Kinyanjui and Lamshore Ltd to file a lawsuit in the Zanzibar High Court, demanding compensation for breach of contract.

The court ruled in favour of the applicants, but the verdict could not be enforced because the company that terminated the contract no longer existed, according to Mr Othman.

Mr Othman added that since Lamshore Ltd was demanding that the Isles government should pay the damages, the applicant filed an application in the High Court of Zanzibar, but the plea was thrown out.

This prompted Mr Kinyanjui to take his case to Kenya, where he filed a fresh application in the country’s high court in Nairobi.

Contacted Wednesday for comment, Tanzania’s High Commissioner to Kenya, Dr Batilda Burian, responded: “I can’t say anything since there is a pending court case.”