Reginald Mengi estate fight: Widow clears legal hurdle
The late billionaire Reginald Mengi and his wife Jacqueline.
What you need to know:
The widow and her children filed an application for the review of a High Court decision annulling Mengi’s Will, which excluded other children from the inheritance.
However, the trustees of the estate, Mr Abdiel Reginald Mengi (son of Mengi from the first wife) and Mr Benjamin Abraham Mengi (brother to Mengi), attempted to block the application from being heard.
The widow of media tycoon Reginald Mengi has cleared another obstacle in her fight for the control of family’s multi-billion-shilling estate.
The Court of Appeal on Thursday dismissed objections filed by the estate administrators against Jacqueline Ntuyabaliwe Mengi and her two children— Jaden Kihoza and Ryan Saashisha.
The widow and her children filed an application for the review of a High Court decision annulling Mengi’s Will, which excluded other children from the inheritance.
However, the trustees of the estate, Mr Abdiel Reginald Mengi (son of Mengi from the first wife) and Mr Benjamin Abraham Mengi (brother to Mengi), attempted to block the application from being heard.
Shortly after Mrs Mengi filed the application, Abdiel and Abraham asked the court to dismiss it, saying the applicants had breached the law.
They claimed that the applicants should have appealed the judgment instead of seeking a judicial review.
The administrators claimed that Mrs Mengi and her children had also not attached the required documents to support their application.
However, the court rejected the arguments, agreeing to hear the review application.
Following the decision, Abdiel filed, again, an application, asking the court to reconsider and reverse its decision.
In its latest decision this week, the appellate judges rejected all the arguments advanced by Abdiel and Abraham.
With the current decision, the court will proceed to hear Mrs Mengi’s application on a date to be fixed by the registrar of the court.
The court will determine the legitimacy of Mengi’s Will, and the Abdiel’s and Abraham’s right to manage their father’s vast estate.
Mrs Mengi and her sons will now be required to convince the Court of Appeal why it should overturn the High Court decision that nullified Mr Mengi’s Will.
In 2019, the High Court in Dar es Salaam appointed Abdiel and Abraham trustees of the estate after they successfully contested the legitimacy of the Will that suggested other names as the trustees.
In the High Court decision delivered on May 18, 2021, Judge Yose Mlyambina agreed with Abdiel’s objection and directed that Mr Mengi’s estate be distributed to the heirs without the Will.
Mrs Mengi then filed the review application, asking the Court of Appeal to reverse it the judge’s decision.
