Wealth of Moi era minister collapsed into children's companies

From left: Retired President Daniel Moi, Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi, and former Imenti South Imenti MP Kabere M'Mbijjiwe. [Standard]

Almost the entire holdings of the wealthy pipe-smoking Moi era minister Kabeere M'Mbijjiwe were collapsed into companies owned by his three sons and one daughter just a year after he died.

Most of these companies were registered in 2018 and Kabeere's children are shareholders and directors.

Kabeere, who was for a long time the MP for Meru Central (now Imenti South), died at St Theresa Kiirua Mission Hospital on November 1, 2017 of stomach cancer at the age of 91.

Conservative estimates put his wealth at about Sh2 billion and reliable sources said the former minister had disposed a lot of prime property in the last 25 years as he battled a persistent esophageal cancer.

Kabeere had developed a throat condition while in colonial detention (1956-1959) forcing him to take to pipe-smoking to sooth the condition. He was survived by sons Derrick Victor Mworia M'Mbijjiwe, 63, Kinyua Mbijjiwe, 56, and Gitonga Mbijjiwe aged 52.

He had one daughter, Karimi Nkirote M'Mbijjiwe, 50. According to court papers, Kabeere had been predeceased by his wife Julia Kangai as shown by an introductory letter that Mikumbune chief Joel Mwirigi wrote for the family on September 29, 2018.

Kabeere was known in Meru as a politician who loved to acquire land. He died intestate and shortly after his burial, his son Kinyua successfully applied to be appointed the administrator of his vast estate.

First elected to Parliament in 1974, Kabeere had been a long-serving MP.  In 1980s, he served in the dockets of Agriculture, Energy, Health and Tourism and was a minister in the government of late President Daniel arap Moi's Cabinet. 

His image with the ubiquitous smoking pipe and long beard stood out in the Cabinet portrait that the government published those days.

But his wars with the Meru political supremo Jackson Angaine occasionally boiled over and in 1975, he lost his seat in a petition and was barred from the by-election after being convicted of electoral offences.

High school teacher Annarita Karimi succeeded Kabeere, becoming the first female elected MP in the entire Mt Kenya since independence.

But Karimi's political stint was brief. It was ended by a conviction for stealing funds belonging to the then St Mary Girls Secondary School in Igoji.

Kabeere reclaimed his seat in the 1979 election and was shortly thereafter in Cabinet courtesy of a long friendship with former Attorney General Charles Njonjo, a political heavyweight in the first years of the Moi presidency.

Kabeere's succession rolled on quickly and smoothly because there was no contest. Kinuya's sister and brothers even wrote a supporting affidavit on January 15, 2018.

Kinyua later provided a document showing how their father's vast land holdings and two vehicles were to be distributed between him and his siblings.

It was not possible to estimate the total acreage of his farms since this was not disclosed in court papers. And some farms' title deeds also fail to capture this.

In the distribution, the family company, Renyua Ltd, was bequeathed most of the properties including Kabeere's farms in Nkuene/Upper Mikumbune and at Nkuene/Mitunguu scheme, all totaling 11 parcels.

Renyua Ltd that was registered on May 31, 2017 with a nominal share capital of Sh100,000 and 1,000 shares of 100 each is owned by all the four children. 

Mworia has 230 ordinary shares, Gitonga 350, Karimi 220 and while Kinyua has 300. Kinyua and Gitonga are the directors of the company.

The company also acquired 30 acres of Nkuene/Mitunguu/143 while other companies, Kwadam Development Limited, Gilberto Investment Ltd and Giempe Investment Limited all got about 15 acres of the estate.

Others were Tatua Terrace Investment Limited as well as Delwood Investments, Green Zone Dynamic Investment Limited and Rushview Investment Limited.  

Plot No 33 in Nkubu township and Kilifi Madeteri/570 all went to Kinyua while the two vehicles - a Land Rover defender and another vehicle whose make was not specified went to Renyua Ltd. 

Most of the companies that Kabeere's family collapsed his wealth into have almost the same shareholding structure, according to details of the Registrar of Companies filed in court. 

Most have Kinyua and his brother Gitonga as directors and shareholders and owning a slightly higher number of shares and while Mworia and Karimi are listed as shareholders with lesser shareholding.

Tatua Terrace Investment Limited is a sole proprietorship of Mworia while Green Zone Dynamic Investment Limited with a nominal shareholding of Sh100,000 in 1,000 shares of Sh100 each is solely owned by his brother Gitonga.

Rushview Investment Limited in turn is owned solely by Karimi. All their companies share a common address in Nairobi.

In total, the administrator of Kabeere M'Mbijjiwe's estate identified and distributed 21 properties including 19 pieces of land and two motor vehicles. Curiously, no bank deposits were declared in the succession, but according to a knowledgeable source, that could be because the former minister's children related well and could have liquidated these on their own terms once an administrator was appointed. 

The administrator declared liabilities of over Sh40 million and other unlisted properties.

"There are suits pending in court over other properties which shall be exhibited once the same is concluded for the administrator," Kinyua declared.

Those will most certainly be the controversial wealth that the former minister held in other regions of Meru, including a sprawling property formerly known as Kinanduba Downs in the North of Meru, which has several pending court cases mostly involving squatters. 

According to the late Ernest Twell, an engineer of the company that built the Thuci-Nkubu road under a British grant in the 1980s, Kabeere wanted a pie in almost everything happening in Meru. 

"He would occasionally storm our sites and threaten that the government would cancel our contract if his lorries didn't get lifting contracts. He was unlike the amiable Angaine, who could charm you to give him anything he wanted," Twell told The Standard in an interview in 2012.

Kabeere M'Mbijjiwe, whose Christian name was Gilbert, was born in 1926 to Senior Chief M'Mwirichia wa Mabuura and Muuchuri wa M'Mucheke Tatinku.

He attended Kaaga Intermediate, a local primary school, Kagumo High and Alliance Boys. Although his admission to Makerere University was cancelled after he was labelled a rebel, he would later be sponsored to the United Kingdom where he finally graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Aberdeen.