Retail chain Uchumi Supermarkets #ticker:UCHM owes its former suppliers in Tanzania an estimated Sh396 million, a new report from a bilateral meeting to iron out trade disputes between Tanzania and Kenya showed.
Tanzania suppliers in a submission during the meeting in Dar-es-Salaam said the debts affected 283 businesses even though Uchumi chief executive Julius Kipng’etich “provided no tangible commitments and remains unresponsive to the mentioned claims.”
Kenyan and Tanzania government however undertook to audit the debt claims and provide directions by end of the year.
“We shall undertake the verification exercise on the debt being claimed by suppliers by October 31,2017, sign off the debt and there after agree on the way forward by December 31,2017,” said a communique from the three-day meeting that ended on September 9.
The suppliers said they were also owed by Nakumatt Supermarkets but didn’t specify how much. The forum agreed to convene a joint meeting between Nakumatt and the suppliers on the pending payments.
“Nakumatt should ring-fence revenue from their operations in order to discharge the outstanding debt” they meeting recommended.
Uchumi Supermarkets exited the Uganda and Tanzania markets in October 205 in a drastic reorganisation to stop financial bleeding.
While announcing the exits, Mr Kipng’etich said the company’s board decided to close down regional units in order to stabilise Kenyan operations.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
