By TWN Team
An American musician has sued two Kenyans for conning her in the name of music collaboration which was not completed as per their contract agreement.
Britanny Jones, through her lawyer Elkana Mogaka, filed the suit at the small claims court in Nairobi to recover her money from Tanasha Donna Oketch, who is the first respondent (recording and performing music artist), and Geoffrey Muema Mutunga, who is a music promoter.
Ms. Jones, in her statement, claims that on November 12, 2021, she signed a music collaboration agreement with the respondents.
She had on November 11, 2021, sent USD 1,020 to Geoffrey Muema Mutunga, the second respondent and agent for the first respondent, Tanasha Donna Oketch, via Mpesa for the music collaboration.
“The respondents’ obligations under the agreement were to provide a verse for the song, show up for the video shoot, help in marketing the song, and give all the rights of the song to Brittany Jones,” read her statement.
Ms. Jones’ obligations were to provide KES 200,000 as payment, finance the audiovisual production, and make a down payment of KES 100,000. The balance, according to the agreement, was to be paid after the video shoot.
“That despite satisfying my obligations under the contract by paying the down payment of USD 1,020, the first respondent is yet to perform her obligations under the contract,” she claims.
She further claims that her attempts to get Tanasha Donna Oketch, the first respondent, to fulfill her contractual obligations have borne no fruit, as she has refused and/or neglected to provide a verse for the song.
“That since there is no verse for the song, the first respondent neither showed up for the video shoot nor helped in marketing the song,” she says.
Ms. Jones accuses Tanasha of breaching her contractual obligations under the music collaboration agreement dated November 12, 2021.
“Despite making the down payment for the music collaboration as per the contract and traveling to Kenya for the music project, the said music collaboration with Tanasha has not materialized,” she says in her statement.
According to the evidence presented to the court, Ms. Jones traveled from Houston, USA, to Nairobi, Kenya, via Qatar Airways at a cost of USD 472.50.
“That from the time of my arrival in Kenya for the said collaboration, I have spent USD 3,096.37 on accommodation and other expenses,” she says.
She believes that she has been swindled out of her hard-earned money and that Tanasha is in breach of the collaboration agreement because all her attempts to collaborate with Tanasha have proven futile.
Through fraud and misrepresentation, Ms. Jones claims that Geoffrey Muema Mutunga, the second respondent, received clothes worth USD 250 from her. Muema had promised to refund the money that Ms. Jones had spent on purchasing the said clothes but failed to do so after delivery.
“That despite a demand having been made, the respondents have neglected, failed, and refused to make good on my demands,” Ms. Jones claims.
She now wants to recover her expenses from the respondents for what she terms as a breach of contract between them. According to her, Tanasha, the first respondent, failed to provide a verse for the song, failed to participate in the music collaboration, and failed to provide the verse of the song, leading to the dissolution of the rest of the agreement.
She further accuses Tanasha of colluding and conniving with Muema, the second respondent, in executing the said fraud and illegally conning her through unlawful means.
She has asked the court to recover a sum of USD 4,588.87 jointly and severally against the respondents, a sum of USD 250 against the second respondent, and to be compensated as determined by the court.
In a demand letter dated June 5, 2024, by Elkana Mogaka and Associate Advocates addressed to both Geoffrey Muema Mutunga (Manager, Ndovu Kuu and Fathermoh) and Tanasha Donna Ochieng, it states: “Our client contends that since the loss of funds, she has repeatedly approached you to repay the funds, approaches which you have repeatedly rebuffed, neglected, failed, and outrightly refused to do so.”
Ms. Jones had instructed the legal firm to, within seven days from the date of the letter, repay the amounts owed in full, including a KES 10,000 collection and convenience fee for failing to pay the sums within the prescribed timeframe.
