The fight over the estate of the late Lawrence Nginyo Kariuki continues, with his children pitted against each other.
Family members have in the course of proceedings protested a written will produced in court.
Nginyo’s daughter told the court their father was not in his “free will and mind” at the time the will was drafted.
Brenda Kiragu, one of Nginyo’s three children born out of wedlock, said her father’s legitimate wife and her children wrote the June 13, 2014 succession will to leave out some of the politician cum businessman’s children.
Mr Kariuki died on February 24, 2020, leaving behind an estate worth more than Sh4 billion in dispute. His wealth includes real estate, farming, bank deposits and government bonds.
Brenda told Nairobi High Court Family Division through an affidavit sworn on September 2020, which was drawn by Murage Juma and Company Advocates, that she is challenging the will.
“The deceased was not of his free will and mind and that the said will was made under undue influence and dictated instructions, which neither represented his intention, wishes and dispositions,” she said.
In the document, Brenda says the will only identifies Margaret Nginyo (wife) and her biological children Scholastica Kariuki, James Kariuki, Silas Kariuki, Jane Alice Kiragu, Rose Esther Kariuki and Sarah Kariuki.
Brenda, who claims to have represented her father in court severally, adds the will does not only leave her and her two brothers: Alex Ndoria and Austin Wachira out, it also does not provide anything for them.
“He did not know and could not remember the other three children at the time of making the alleged will but only remembered all the children of Margaret Wangari Nginyo,” she said.
She has also told the court that they were excluded from all death and funeral announcements placed in the papers by the petitioners, including the eulogy read at their father’s funeral.
Brenda, a lawyer, said that immediately her father passed away, Margaret and Jane (her step mother and sister) barred her from accessing the hospital and denied her the opportunity to pay her last respects.
“I had to file Civil Case No.44 of 2020 to be allowed to attend the burial and also undergo a DNA test,” she added.
In the evidence, Brenda backed her petition with the paternity test results that showed the deceased was her biological father with 99.9 percent accuracy.
But the battle for the late Nginyo Kariuki’s wealth seems to have taken a different turn after his eldest son asked the High Court to let him manage his father’s Sh4 billion property alone.
Initially, Margaret and her six offspring were united.
James Anthony Kariuki accused his mother and three siblings of jointly transferring cash to their personal accounts.
“Unless the honourable court intervenes by granting the petition, the estate shall lose income from the rental properties, which may well quickly fall into a state of disrepair and the assets (including money) belonging to the companies be plundered to the great detriment of the estate of the deceased,” he said in his application.
He told the court that his mother and siblings Silas Macharia Kariuki, Scholastica Njeri Kariuki and Jane Wambui Kariuki had so far liquidated a total of Sh71 million in fixed deposit accounts of Pema Holdings Limited at I&M Bank.
The application elicited a rift in the succession battle in Margaret’s household.
Although he was a politician, Nginyo made most of his wealth in business.
Documents obtained from the courts showed he had land and buildings in Nairobi, Kiambu and Ngong valued at a total of Sh3.2 billion, the most famous of his property being Nginyo Towers in Nairobi’s Central Business District.
Aside from that, he also owned a 120-acre tea and coffee farm in Tigoni, Kiambu County whose expenses amount to Sh1.7 million per month.
He also owned Nginyo Investments and Pema Holdings, which have assets of Sh221.3 million.
Nginyo owned shares in a few Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firms with a market value of about Sh18.5 million. His biggest stock market investment is 101,200 shares of East African Breweries Limited currently valued at Sh17.2 million.
He also had several luxury cars and farm machinery valued at Sh33.1 million under his name.
Nginyo Kariuki’s political footsteps can be traced back to 2000, when he founded the The National Alliance (TNA) party, which later changed hands to President Uhuru Kenyatta.
