Four months to the August 2022 General Election, former Nyeri governor James Nderitu Gachagua still held 8,994 shares in Vipingo Beach Resort Ltd, according to an official search done by Sunday Nation at the time.
The deceased governor’s daughter, Susan, held 1,000 shares in trust for her father in the company. In a similar fashion, his son Kenneth held five shares, and his brother Rigathi Gachagua — now Deputy President — held one share. Each of the shareholders doubled up as directors of the company.
But when the DP appeared before the National Assembly last Tuesday to fight off an impeachment motion against him, the firm’s structure had changed and his brother’s children had been replaced as directors by their cousins.
While the transfer of all 10,000 shares to the estate of Nderitu Gachagua was in line with the former governor’s last wishes, it is still unclear why the Deputy President’s sons are listed as the only directors of the company with assets worth billions.
The DP and his brother’s children were all removed as directors. Only Keith and Kevin Gachagua are listed as directors of Vipingo Beach Resort Ltd.
The Deputy President’s communications team did not immediately respond to our queries on why Keith and Kevin replaced their father and cousins as directors of Vipingo Beach Resort Ltd, despite not having an interest in the former Nyeri governor’s estate. Phone calls and questions sent through text messages had not been responded to by the time of publishing this article.
At the National Assembly, Mr Gachagua put up a spirited fight in an attempt to defend his wife, Dorcas, and sons against allegations that they have been his proxies in numerous business dealings.
He did not, however, mention how or why Keith and Kevin became sole directors in his late brother’s company.
The presence of the two in Vipingo Beach Resort is now playing out in the impeachment trial as legislators construed this as being part of Mr Gachagua using his sons as proxies.
“Rigathi told Kenyans on national television that this property is still owned by the family and therefore it is still part of the estate. Keith Ikinu and Kevin Gachagua, his sons, were not joint Will executors of Nderitu Gachagua’s estate… It is a rather ingenious way of trying to hide behind the estate of his late brother,” Kikuyu MP and National Assembly Leader of Majority Kimani Ichung’wah said in his submission.
Vipingo Beach Resort Ltd is a company that owns Vipingo Beach Resort, a luxurious beachside establishment with hotel, cottage and conferencing facilities.
The firm also owned 80 apartments that Nderitu Gachagua constructed, targeting the middle class.
In a televised address to the nation on Monday, the Deputy President claimed that all beneficiaries of his brother’s estate agreed to retain the apartments and only divide them amongst themselves, rather than sell and share the proceeds in line with the former Nyeri governor’s Will.
In his Will, Nderitu Gachagua had directed that all his assets, except for three houses and a real estate company, Mweiga Homes Ltd, be sold and the proceeds be shared amongst beneficiaries.
The document has been praised for its provision for the former governor’s dependents and relatives, including children born out of wedlock.
Mothers of the two children born out of wedlock in 2021 sued the executors of the Will – Rigathi Gachagua, Njoroge Regeru and Mwai Mathenge – for allegedly refusing to pay school fees for the minors.
The executors in their response said they had reduced the amount paid out for school fees as the estate’s liquidity had been affected by the closure of Olive Gardens on account of the Covid-19 pandemic. The executors added that they had been paying school fees out of goodwill, as Nderitu Gachagua’s Will only stated that assets be sold and the proceeds shared out.
In addition, they said that the former governor had a Sh700 million loan at Cooperative Bank which was still being serviced hence affecting the estate’s liquidity.
Justice Lydia Achode agreed with the executors and dismissed the application seeking to have the estate pay school fees for the minors, after hearing that some of the other beneficiaries were yet to get a single cent.
The former governor had a taste for the hospitality and real estate businesses, having invested in two hotels and several apartments. He owned the Olive Garden Hotel in Hurlingham, Nairobi, and whose sale has also attracted claims of disinheritance by the DP. Mr Gachagua held that Olive Garden was sold to TM Civil Engineering.
But on Tuesday, MPs claimed that TM Civil Engineering owner Peterson Njomo Muchira is a proxy of Mr Gachagua.
“I must confess and I am sorry to my friend Peterson because I know him. I called him this afternoon when I saw this document and asked him whether TM Civil Engineering Limited is his company. He confirmed to me that indeed it is. Therefore, Olive Garden Limited was purchased through the proxy of Peterson Njomo Muchira with zero shares and TM Civil Engineering Limited with 6,000 shares. Those who have visited the Annex House, Office of the Deputy President, know that Njomo is a permanent fixture there and therefore his direct proxy,” Kikuyu MP Ichung’wah added.
In his defence, Mr Gachagua said Olive Gardens belonged to his late brother and has never been his (the deputy president’s) property. He said the hotel was sold to a third party as directed in the Will.
The Senate is set to hear the charges against Mr Gachagua next week, after which its members will vote on each allegation to determine whether to uphold his impeachment.
Mr Gachagua and other parties have filed more than 20 cases at the High Court in a bid to block his removal from office.
On Friday, he filed a fresh case seeking to stop the Senate from acting on the National Assembly’s resolution to impeach Mr Gachagua. The court did not, however, issue orders blocking the impeachment.
