Former Cabinet Minister Joseph Kamotho
The widow of former influential minister in President Daniel Moi’s government John Joseph Kamotho and her two children will appear in court on Monday November 17, 2025 to shed light on the assets of a company associated with the late politician.
As the administrators of the estate of JJ Kamotho— Ms Eunice Wambui and her daughter Ms Marianne Nyokabi and son Mr Charles Githii — will be subjected to oral examination by a Thika Environment and Land Court concerning their ability to settle a debt of Sh18.4 million plus accrued interest.
The Kamothos are being pursued in regard to the assets of Decon Enterprises Limited whose assets risk attachment by three individuals who sued the company over a dispute on the sale of parcels of land in Thika.
Mr Peter Kimani Wainaina, Mr Peter Njoroge Ng’ang’a, and Ms Susan Wangari Mithamo sued the company after they discovered the land parcels they had purchased had been sold to third parties.
The three are seeking to recover their lost investment awarded by the court amounting to 18,400,000.
“Bearing in mind that a company is a separate legal entity from its directors, and given that the plaintiffs have a decree in their favour, it would only be fair and just that those mentioned be called upon to shed light on assets, and the deceased director’s bank accounts in order to assist in the execution,” said the court
The Kamothos have argued that they were wrongly sued as they were only administrators of the estate of their late patriarch who was one of the directors of the company.
According to the widow, the family members ceased being administrators of the estate after the conclusion of the succession court case and denied having been directors of Decon Enterprises.
The land buyers, Mr Wainaina, Mr Ngang’a and Ms Mithano, had urged the Kamothos to provide the court with the necessary details regarding their properties, assets, liabilities, and any debts owed to them or by them, which may be used to satisfy the judgment obtained against the firm.
Breach of sale agreements
They pointed out that the directors of the company had failed to appear in court as directed or provide sufficient information to satisfy the debt.
Ms Eunice Kamotho stated that the family had been irregularly and illegally dragged into the matter yet they were not officers of Decon Enterprises or its affiliates.
She maintained that the company has a separate legal personality from its officials and “so the debts of the company are not debts of the individual directors.”
The widow told the court that they were served with warrants of attachment in November 2023 long after the administration of the estate had been concluded.
She added that the rule used by the three buyers was not meant to condemn individual directors to settle the debts of the company but to ascertain if it owns other assets that can be used to pay off the debt.
In his testimony, Mr Wainaina said they entered into agreement with Decon Enterprises directors in the year 2000 for sale and subdivision of plot No.LR 20695 (Decon Estate) and paid the entire purchase price in five installments.
Upon completion of the sale transaction, the court was told that the company directors became evasive and refused to surrender the land documents including the title deeds.
However, after conducting an official search in March 2011, the three buyers discovered that the plots they had bought-Thika Municipality/Block 34/44, 45, 46, 84, 164 and 162, had been fraudulently transferred to third parties.
In addition, the buyers claimed the firm refused to refund them the money paid for the purchase of the land parcels.
After hearing the case, the court found that Decon Enterprises was in breach of the sale agreements after failing to perform its obligations in accordance with the contract.
