A fight between three widows of politician Josiah Mwangi (JM) Kariuki over the distribution of his multi-million shilling assets will be solved through mediation in an attempt to end the legal dispute that has been outstanding in court for 37 years.
The succession dispute will be solved by a mediator within 60 days starting October 17, according to orders issued by family court judge Eric Ogola.
The judge referred the dispute to mediation following a request by the advocates handling the succession case, which is one of the oldest active court cases. It was filed in 1985.
The advocates are expected to appear before the court’s deputy registrar on November 24 for the mediation process.
They will return to court on January 31, 2023, to confirm to the court the progress of the mediation and inform the court of what aspects of the dispute will have been solved.
One aspect of the legal dispute is the status of JM Kariuki’s marriage to the three women and whether he was in a monogamous or polygamous marriage.
Another is the question of who are the beneficiaries of his estate and how the property should be distributed.
The dispute escalated in 2009 after one of the widows, Ms Doris Nyambura, sought a review of a ruling that recognised two women as widows and beneficiaries of the estate. The matter is awaiting determination.
The politician was assassinated in 1975. At the time of his death, he was the Nyandarua North MP.
It is the second time the family is trying an out-of-court settlement in sharing the vast estate after a previous attempt led by former Nyeri MP Waruru Kanja in 2001 failed.
JM died without a valid will. Three women —Doris Nyambura, Esther Mwikali and Terry Wanjiku — and their eight children laid claim to his estate.
He had invested extensively in huge tracts of land, real estate, and shares in various companies, hotels, large-scale farming, and beer distribution, among others.
At the centre of the court dispute is an attempt by Ms Nyambura to edge out the other two women from inheriting the politician’s wealth, though she had recognised them as beneficiaries in an agreement recorded in court on November 11, 2008.
Through her daughter Rosemary Machua, Ms Nyambura claims to be the sole legal widow and that the implementation of the agreement saw her lose large parts of the estate to Ms Wanjiku and Ms Mwikali.
She wants the court to review its decision to adopt the agreement and the mode of assets distribution done by former Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal on December 8, 2009, on the basis of the agreement. She claims the agreement the court relied on was entered in the absence of her lawyer.
She also claims that she was the only legal widow of JM, having been married under the African Christian Marriage and Divorce Act.
She adds that the marriage was a monogamous one and she was not divorced. She adds that Ms Wanjiku and Ms Mwikali cohabited with JM and each got children, but theirs was not marriage as her marriage to him was always in subsistence.
She claims that JM, having married her under the Act, had no capacity to marry either of them.
But Ms Wanjiku and Ms Mwikali maintain that they are widows of JM, were legally married to him and are beneficiaries of the estate.
The court battle started in 1985 when the family filed the succession case leading to an agreement in November 2008 where all the advocates agreed that the three co-wives are accepted as widows of JM and that their respective children be the beneficiaries of the estate.
Court papers indicate the properties left by the late politician include shares of Kanyamwi Farm in Gilgil measuring 200 acres valued at Sh141 million in 2009.
The other properties include Riverside Farm at Ol Kalou measuring 808 acres with three sub-divisions valued at Sh124 million, land on Ngong Road (Kindaruma property) valued at Sh35 million and Castle Inn Garden Estate measuring 5.6 acres valued at Sh60 million.
He also had other lands described as Uhuru Estate and Ol Kalou Township Plot whose financial values are not indicated in the court papers.
In addition, JM had shares in various top listed and unlisted companies, among them 5,575 shares at Kenya Breweries, ICDC Investment Co Ltd (26,977), Merchat Limited (522), CMC Holdings Ltd (3,864), Pan African Insurance Co. Ltd (915), Kedong Ranch Ltd (1,450), Unga Group Ltd (522), Rift Valley African Agencies Ltd (8,750) and Motor Mart Ltd (250).
He also had an undisclosed number of shares in various companies such as Standard Chartered, BAT, Car and General, Lonrho Motors EA Ltd, Kulia Investments, Market Ltd and Kanyamwi Trading Co. Ltd.
In the distribution mode made by the court in December 2009 following agreement by the three widows, the land on Ngong Road (Seoul Garden) was given to Ms Wanjiku while Castle Inn was to be divided equally between the houses of Ms Wanjiku and Ms Mwikali.
The sale proceeds held by advocates after sale of a plot was to be shared equally amongst three houses.
At Riverside Farm, 250 acres were given to Ms Wanjiku, 250 acres to Ms Mwikali and 118 acres to Ms Nyambura. Some 240 acres had already been given to a group of people represented by Philisila Wanjiku and Grace Wangui.
The Ol Kalou Township plot was to be divided equally amongst the three houses as it is a commercial property.
Another land owned by JM’s company known as Kanyamwi Ltd was to be distributed between the homes of Doris and Esther. Another 811 acres was to be reverted to Kanyamwi Trading Co. Ltd from Joderest Ltd and thereafter the property be held in the ratio of 35:35:30 amongst houses of Ms Nyambura, Ms Wanjiku and Ms Mwikali.
At JM’s home in Nyandarua, each widow had a matrimonial house and Ms Nyambura was given 50 acres for a home; Ms Wanjiku 180.5 acres and Ms Mwikali 170.5 acres.
The shares in companies were to be shared equally amongst the three houses and the co-widows were to hold the properties in trust for their children in equal shares.
But Ms Nyambura returned to court seeking a review of the wealth distribution. One of her grounds is that her lawyer was not privy to the agreement.
This is the consent that, among other things, agreed on who were the widows and the children of JM Kariuki and the beneficiaries of his estate.
Apart from the legality of JM’s marriage to the two other women, the substance of her request for review is that the estate had been shared in a disproportionate manner in which she had lost a lot of estate to the two women and their children.
JM also owned Nyandarua Laikipia Agencies Ltd, Nyandarua Samburu Agencies Ltd (58 shares), Laikipia Distributor Ltd (5,332 shares), Kariuki & Gathecha Resources Ltd and an unknown amount of money in banks.
