The late John Keen at his home on December 21, 2011.
The first daughter of former Assistant Minister John Keen has stepped up her fight against his written will on the distribution of the Sh13 billion wealth amongst members of his polygamous family and other beneficiaries.
Ms Victoria Naishorua Keen, in documents filed at the High Court in Milimani, Nairobi, says the will is a forgery and should be revoked.
She wants the assets distributed intestate—as if Keen had died without a will outlining how he wished his wealth to be distributed to family and other dependents—or through any other formula but not based on the written will.
Through senior counsel Philip Murgor and Eva Kala, Ms Naishorua also wants the law firm of Ngeri, Omiti & Bush Advocates disqualified from the case over an alleged conflict of interest.
The firm represents one of Keen’s widows Rosemary Sanau in the court case. She says the firm had been hired and retained by some members of the family and executors of the will (Justice Isaac Lenaola, lawyer Maina Wachira, Rosemary Sanau, and Pamela Soila) to carry out transactions on behalf of the estate.
According to her lawyers, it was wrong for the law firm to represent Ms Sanau in the succession case and at the same time handle “fraudulent transactions” to transfer the free property of the late politician to third parties.
In addition, it is alleged that the senior partner in the law firm was commissioning affidavits in the transactions for Ms Sanau and drew affidavits for the late lawyer Maina Wachira to support the same transactions. She believes this was a violation of the Laws of Succession Act.
“There is a glaring and manifest conflict of interest in the representation of Ms Sanau or any other party in the subject succession dispute by the firm of Ngeri, Omiti & Bush Advocates LLP,” she says.
It is argued that the firm was involved in the alleged fraudulent transfer of Keen’s valuable properties in the Karen suburb, including 15 land parcels to Resson Gardens Ltd, Leonard Mukuria, and James Muiruri.
Keen died at the age of 88 on December 25, 2016, after suffering from various ailments and was survived by at least 14 children and four widows –Gladwell Wairimu, Mary Njeri, Rosemary Sanau, and Jane Wamuyu.
He had built an asset book valued at more than Sh13 billion, with investments in real estate – including prime land in Nairobi and Kajiado counties, hospitality, including the Maasai Lodge, stocks in blue chip companies like Safaricom and Standard Chartered, and large sums of money in bank accounts.
Court documents indicate that Keen did not have debts at the time of his death, making him one of the wealthiest Kenyans. He served as an assistant minister in the Kanu regime and a Member of Parliament for Kajiado North Constituency from 1969.
In her attack on the will dated December 2, 2015, Ms Naishorua questioned Keen’s health capacity to append a signature on the contested Will. She also alleges that he lacked testamentary capacity.
She adds that Keen’s signature on the will document was found to be a forgery by a document examiner, Mr Martin Papa, of Spectral Forensic Services in his report dated September 13, 2024. The examiner compared the signature on the will document with other known signatures of the late politician.
According to her, “there can be no testamentary intention or freedom where the will and last testament of Keen has been found to be a forgery”.
She adds that Keen was suffering “acutely from the terminal brain degenerative Parkison’s disease, where he lacked the physical and mental testamentary capacity to execute a valid will”.
“Keen died after suffering various ailments for a considerable period, including terminal and mentally debilitating Parkison’s disease.
In the death certificate dated December 29, 2016, the cause of his death was attributed to “severe sepsis with septic shock and acute respiratory failure, right-sided pleural effusion and pneumothorax, severe aortic stencis”,” she says in an affidavit.
Ms Naishorua also contends that there has been intermeddling with the estate during the pendency of the succession case. The case is scheduled to be heard on October 15, 2025.
