Ownership tussle over Temple Point Resort gets ugly

Daniel Nyassy | nation
Residents and workers at the Temple Point Beach Resort block the main entrance to the hotel keep a rival group at bay, during an on-going ownership raw.

What you need to know:

  • Residents and employees join in the row over the hotel with several getting injured

Residents of Watamu, Malindi, have for the last two weeks been treated to a rare spectacle of business rivalry over the ownership of a top notch tourist hotel in the area.

In the struggle for ownership pitting Kenyan and long-serving hotel manager Isaac Rodrot, who acquired the management of the exclusive resort not so long ago, and a group of German investors, several people were injured when the two groups clashed as one of them tried to evict the other.

The 250-bed capacity Salama Beach Hotel, popularly known as Temple Point Beach Hotel, which is at the centre of the tussle, is estimated to be worth more than Sh200 million.

The ownership saga that has been boiling for two weeks now, erupted again last week when a group presented a court order to get access to the hotel after the other one was ordered by a Malindi court to access the hotel last week.

The first group led by Mr Rodrot and Mr Stefano Uccelli, which was thrown out of the hotel through a court ruling last week, got orders of stay from the High Court in Mombasa and went to the hotel on Monday.

However, it was repulsed by workers and residents who drove them out after accessing the facility.

Anti-riot police officers who had escorted the group to execute the court order were overwhelmed and overcome by the workers and villagers. They left silently back to their Watamu police station.

As soon as word went round that the group had entered the hotel, residents from the neighbouring Dongokunda village grouped and stormed the facility driving the police and the group out. At least three people including a senior manager were injured.

Briefing the press, the new owner Mr Hans Juergen Langer said the group had raided the hotel “like a gang of robbers” breaking into offices and taking away computers and other items.

“They took away a lot of money from the hotel boutique, went to the kitchen and everywhere and did a lot of damage,” he said.

However, Mr Rodrot said the denial to access the hotel even after presenting a court order was a ploy to rob him of his 45 per cent shares in the hotel.

Mr Langer, who is engaged in the battle of ownership with Mr Rodrot confirmed that the former is a shareholder and owns 45 per cent shares.

Mr Rodrot said the German owner was trying to throw him out of the hotel unlawfully while Mr Langer claimed that Mr Rodrot was working to frustrate him so as to take over the hotel.

The court order issued on September 8 and signed by the deputy registrar of the High Court in Mombasa orders the OCPD in Malindi to execute it.

It also sets aside an earlier judgment issued at the Malindi court on September 8 evicting Mr Rodrot and his partner and enjoins five people as owners. They are Mr Langer, Mr Rodrot, Mr Uccelli and Ms Zahra Langer.

The judgment followed the arrest of five people, Mr Langer and his son Mr Jan Langer, a nominated councilor Mr Ibrahim Matumbo, Mr Joseph Kiponda and Mr Mutambo Musyimi who had entered the hotel with a court order ordering Mr Rodrot out.

The takeover bid has happened when guests are staying in the hotel thereby jeopardizing the tourism industry.