Woman Seeks MP Stanley Muthama’s Arrest Over Sh7M Car Debt

NAIROBI – A businesswoman has moved to court seeking an arrest warrant against Lamu West Member of Parliament Stanley Muthama over an unpaid Sh7.1 million debt stemming from a vehicle purchase made nearly nine years ago.

Yvonne Njoki Njiru, operating as Newday Motors Limited, is pushing for the arrest of Muthama and his company, Stansha Limited, after obtaining a favorable decree from a Nairobi magistrate court on April 23, 2025.

According to court documents, the initial debt of Sh3.5 million was incurred in June 2016 when Stansha Limited purchased an Isuzu ELF truck.

The amount has since accumulated interest of Sh3.6 million, bringing the total to Sh7.1 million.

The businesswoman alleges fraud in her court claim, stating that despite numerous promises to pay, including one made during a chance meeting at a Nairobi restaurant in February 2023, the MP failed to honor his commitments.

“When it became apparent that he had no intention to pay for the vehicle, the plaintiff reported the incident at Industrial Area Police Station,” her lawyer Robinson Kigen stated in court filings.

MP Muthama has denied the debt, arguing it was improper for the court to hold him personally liable for a company’s obligations, even though he served as its director.

“I have been condemned and found liable for debts that are not mine but of the company without any justifiable reason and as such puts me and my property at risk of execution,” Muthama stated in his defense.

However, Principal Magistrate H.M. Ng’ang’a dismissed Muthama’s defense as “mere denial and a sham,” noting that the MP had admitted to purchasing the vehicle and taking possession of it without providing evidence of payment.

“The court has noted that Mr. Muthama executed the agreement for sale and nowhere did he indicate that he executed it as a director of Stansha,” the magistrate observed.

The MP has since appealed the decision, but High Court Judge Moses Ado declined to suspend the magistrate’s ruling pending determination of the appeal.

Muthama contends that the trial court ignored facts including a Sh500,000 payment made to Newday Motors and an agreement stipulation that the vehicle could be repossessed if the purchase price was not paid in full.

The case is scheduled for a hearing on May 19, 2025, when the court will consider Ms. Njiru’s application for an arrest warrant against the MP.

This is not the first time Muthama has faced legal issues over unpaid debts. In 2023, he faced arrest over a Sh2.3 million debt, and in 2019, he was charged with evading nearly Sh488 million in taxes between 2013 and 2017.