Minister happy with commissioner’s refusal to renew lease

POLICE Minister Bryan Kramer says he is happy with Police Commissioner David Manning’s refusal to renew the lease of the building which the Internal Affairs Directorate (IAD) had been renting over the last three years.
“I reviewed the lease document and confirmed that the lease area was 902 square metres, the annual rental being K735,000, subject to a seven per cent increase each year, and the security bond was K2.1 million, which was equivalent to three years rental inclusive of GST (goods and services tax),” Kramer said.
“This would make the constabulary the best tenant in the world, were it is foolish enough to agree to pay three years of rental in advance inclusive of seven per cent increase every year.”
He said that last June, the landlord, Peter Kumara, of Maharage Investments Ltd, wrote to Manning saying that the office lease would expire in November 2019, and asked him to endorse the renewal of a further three-year lease.
Kramer said Kumara requested that Manning endorse the renewal for a further three years to allow the continued operation of IAD.
“No rental company would be stupid enough to invoice a client three years in advance and expect to be paid, unless it had a special relationship with those within the organisation.”