Little known about Jomo's first wife as she kept low profile after his death

Wahu Kenyatta

Having lived all her life away from the public glare, Jomo Kenyatta’s first wife, Grace Wahu, wanted to immortalise her name after her death.

To achieve this, she designed a will that left most of her earthly belongings to the Church. Her only wish was that any project the Church established would bear her name.

This is how Ms Wahu signed away her 5.5-acres in Dagoretti in 1985. She hoped the Catholic Church would establish an institution on the property and name a member of the first family to the board. The land is valued at Sh10,000,000.

In her selflessness, she had even disinherited her only daughter, former Nairobi mayor Margaret Wambui Kenyatta, in the will. She also directed that an eighth of the property should be reserved for her final resting place.

But 26 years later, on April 16, 2006, Wahu changed her mind, altered her will and left the property, located in Ngando in Dagoretti, Nairobi, to her daughter.

“Following is a full inventory of all assets and liabilities of the deceased at the date of her death as have arisen or become known as at that date,” court records read in part.

“The grant of probate of the will dated April 15, 1985, of the deceased was issued to Margret Wambui Kenyatta on April 8, 2008. The deceased appointed her only surviving child Margret Wambui Kenyatta to be the sole executrix.”

By the time she died on April 4, 2007, little was known about Wahu as she did not involve herself in any power play after the 1978 death of Kenya’s founding president, Jomo Kenyatta.

Instead, she led a quiet life in Dagoretti, where she had raised her two children, Wambui and Peter Muigai, the former Juja MP and assistant minister.

During Wahu's funeral, she was praised for her devotion to St Joseph’s Ngando Catholic Church.

Wahu met Kenyatta, then known as Johnstone Kamau, in 1919 and they were married under Gikuyu customs. Muigai was born one year later before Wambui followed in 1928.

But Wambui was unable to take control of her late mother’s wealth as illness started taking a toll on her. A doctor who examined her wrote: “I recommend that someone be assigned the responsibilities of her estate.”

The law requires that the next of kin takes over management of such an estate. However, the former mayor’s only son, Patrick John Kamau, died.

Her daughter-in-law, Emily Wanjiku Kamau, together with her eldest son Njomo Kamau, applied to be the administrators of the estate.

AILING MOTHER

Ms Kamau had told the court that if the estate was left in the hands of her ailing mother-in-law, it was likely to go to waste.

“It is in the best interest of the estate (of) Grace Wahu Kenyatta (deceased) that I, jointly with Njomo Kamau, be substituted in place of Margaret Wambui Kenyatta to be executors of the estate of Grace Wahu Kenyatta,” Kamau said.

Wambui, who died last year, had three grandchildren; Njomo, Ngwiri Kamau and Margret Wambui Kamau.

“It has been agreed by all the beneficiaries all the property comprising the estate shall vest in all the beneficiaries to fully hold absolutely as bequeathed by the last will of the deceased,” the probate application, filed by Waweru Gatonye Advocates, read