Fresh dispute hits multibillion-shilling Michuki succession row

Former powerful Cabinet minister John Michuki must be turning in his grave as his children’s bitter fight for his vast estate threatens to destroy all he had worked for before he died at 80.

A fresh dispute could prolong the multibillion-shilling succession row, more than nine years after his death in February 2012.

His youngest daughter, Ms Yvonne Wanja, now claims excavators have been digging up sewerage systems in one of the properties to pave way for new projects despite a court order stopping any developments.

She has written to the contractor, China Henan International Cooperation Group, seeking to know who authorised the project. She’s also seeking answers on who approved the plans, tender references and paying authority in a November 2 letter.

“I write as a daughter of and hence beneficiary of the estates of the late John Michuki and late Josephine Watiri Michuki regarding the ongoing construction of sewerage lines through the properties, which are currently subject to succession cases in court. I am also a director of Duke Properties, which holds Mika Farm and a shareholder of Nairobi Golf Hotels Limited, which trades as Windsor Golf Hotel and Country Club,” states the letter.

Isolated by siblings

“I request your office to provide me with the following; approved plans for the sewerage construction being carried out by yourselves and consent received from the administrators of the estate of my late parents or any other Michuki family member.”

Ms Wanja has written a similar letter to Athi Water Works Development Agency. She claims her other siblings have isolated her in ongoing transactions.

“They are treating me as if I am not one of them, as if I am not a beneficiary and entitled to my parents’ property... as if I don’t exist. They have not responded to my letters,” she told the Nation.

When we visited the contested property that is adjacent to Windsor Golf & Country Hotel, contractors were busy working on the ground, putting up sewerage systems pending fresh developments.

Ms Ann Mutahi, one of the property administrators, admitted there was a development project at the site but steered clear of the court order barring such an undertaking.

Valuation of the estate

“I believe my sister is choosing the wrong avenue to address the matter and that she just want to embarrass my late father who was highly respected. It’s unfortunate,” she said.

Ms Wanja has been seeking the valuation of the multibillion-shilling estate that her father left behind. She’s also demanding her rightful share.

In a 2012 case, she blamed her two siblings for running down the flagship hotel, which accrued huge debts. She claimed Ms Mutahi and Mr Fred Chege had “failed to administer the estate in a proper manner” and that “the beneficiaries have failed to agree on the estate’s future”. 

The other children are Martin Michuki, Francis Murai and Sheila Murugi.

When he wrote his will in 1973, Mr Michuki had named his wife Watiri and the then-East African Breweries executive Kenneth Matiba as the executors of the estate.

According to court papers, he had left all his personal chattels to his wife. He had also bequeathed 50 per cent of his estate to his wife, while the other 50 per cent was to be shared out by his children in equal shares.

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