Former assistant minister the late John Keen.
Victoria Naishorua Keen, the first of at least 14 children of former assistant minister John Keen, has asked the High Court to declare that her father died without a Will in a bid to have a new distribution formula for his Sh13 billion empire.
In a fresh application before the High Court, Victoria Naishorua Keen is taking on her father’s third wife and step-sister from his second wife, in a fight that has now entangled Supreme Court judge Isaac Lenaola.
Keen died on Christmas Day in 2016 at the age of 88 years, after developing health complications related to old age.
Keen had built an asset book valued at over Sh13 billion, with investments in real estate which included prime land in Nairobi and Kajiado counties, hospitality which included the Maasai Lodge, stocks in blue chip companies like Safaricom and Standard Chartered Bank Kenya, and large sums of money stashed in bank accounts.
Court documents indicate that Keen did not owe any debts at the time of his death, making him one of the wealthiest Kenyans.
The value of some of his assets like land has gone up over the years, meaning his estate could be worth more than the Sh13 billion declared in his succession case, even with the disposal of some land and other assets.
The man who served as Kajiado North MP and assistant minister in the Agriculture ministry was polygamous, having married four wives – Gladwell Wairumu, Mary Njeri, Rosemary Sanau and Jane Wamuyu – who bore him 14 children.
Gladwell and Mary were biological sisters. Gladwell had six children with Keen, while her sister Mary bore the assistant minister five children. Rosemary had two children with Keen, and Jane one.
And while his estate may mirror a bottomless pit of money to some, beneficiaries of his estate have since 2017 been unable to agree on how to share the assets Keen acquired in his lifetime, trading accusations against each other.
In the latest episode, Keen’s firstborn daughter Victoria has asked the High Court to void a Will filed in court seven years ago and find a new formula to divvy up the massive estate.
In July, the Court of Appeal dismissed an application by Victoria seeking to reverse a High Court decision to proceed with distribution of Keen’s assets, in line with his Will. Victoria has, however, mounted two applications at the High Court seeking to stop the process.
The Keen scion claims that examination of signatures on various documents has led Spectral Forensic Services, a private firm she hired through her lawyer Philip Murgor, indicates that what appears as Keen’s appendage on the Will dated December 2, 2015 is a forgery.
The late John Keen at his home on December 21, 2011.
Victoria says in court papers that Spectral Forensic Services used numerous documents with Keen’s known signature and compared appendages appearing on contested documents.
On account of the report by Martin Papa of Spectral Forensic Services, Victoria has now asked the High Court to declare that Keen died without a Will.
Victoria claims that the distribution stated in the Will before court is not consistent with a number of happenings in her father’s last few days, and even claims foul play by executors listed in the document.
The Will before court listed three executors. Close friend and confidant Justice Lenaola, Keen’s third wife Rosemary and Pamela Soila. Pamela is Keen’s third born daughter with second wife Mary.
The executors told Nation Africa that they are in the process of filing their detailed response to Victoria’s application, but that Keen’s daughter has made false and defamatory allegations against them in the court papers.
They insist that Keen was of sound mind when he wrote his Will, and had his reasons for distributing the Sh13 billion estate as he did in the document.
The executors hold that Victoria is disgruntled with the division of wealth that Keen provided in his Will, and that she is making them collateral damage in a war against the document.
“The matter is in court. Our lawyers are preparing our comprehensive response to Vicky’s allegations. It will then come to light that the late John Keen was of lucid mind when he wrote his Will and his Will is reputed as one of the most well thought out Wills in Kenya,” the executors said.
“Vicky’s application is sensational, defamatory and is calculated to cause damage to our reputations while her claim should focus on her complaint that she and her mother’s house were not bequeathed what they expected in the Will. That was the late John Keen’s decision and we reserve the right to take legal action against her in days to come,” the executors added.
The three executors filed a petition for grant of probate – authority to execute the Will – at the High Court on February 1, 2017 in a move that has since seen members of the family trade accusations against each other in disputes over the distribution of the Keen estate.
Justice Lenaola, however, resigned from his role as executor on November 24, 2020.
Justice Lenaola, the estate of Keen’s former lawyer Maina Wachira, Rosemary Sanau and Pamela Soila are yet to file responses to Victoria’s application which accuses them of intermeddling with the estate.
In her application, Victoria claims that at the time of his death, her father had a frosty relationship with the three executors listed in the Will before court, and accuses them of intermeddling with the estate by selling assets worth Sh1.487 billion before the courts conclude the succession case.
Last year, Victoria filed another application accusing the executors of intermeddling, citing the sale of some assets including land in Karen to various individuals after Keen’s death, for Sh1.487 billion.
She argued that the sale and transfer of assets can only happen after the High Court has confirmed the validity of the Will and given authority to its executors to implement the document.
In response, executors Pamela Soila and Rosemary Sanau, said that they only completed the transfer of properties which Keen had already entered into sale agreements with third parties for.
Victoria now says in court filings that Mary Njeri, the second wife, allegedly abandoned Keen and their five children after leaving for the US. Mary’s children, she further claims, were raised by Keen’s first wife Gladwell.
Additionally, Victoria claims that there has always been enmity between children of the first and second homes, mostly with the latter’s third born Pamela hence it is unlikely that Keen would have picked her to be an executor.
John Keen’s book ‘A Profile in Courage’ which chronicles the story of the journalist-turned-politician who died in 2016.
“Further, in view of the tension existing between the children of the 1st wife and the children of the 2nd wife of the deceased, particularly the 5th respondent (Pamela), it is unlikely, and does not stand to reason that the deceased would have appointed the 1st (Justice Lenaola), 4th (Rosemary) and 5th respondents and the late Maina Wachira, to be executors and trustees of his estate, because of their likelihood of conspiring to defraud the estate for their personal benefit, to the exclusion of all other legitimate beneficiaries of the estate,” Victoria claims in her affidavit.
Victoria further claims that a 0.98-acre land in Karen Justice Lenaola acquired from Keen for Sh45 million was irregularly transferred to the judge.
While the transfer papers were lodged on December 14, 2016, the acquisition process was completed after Keen’s death. The land was formally transferred to Justice Lenaola on January 18, 2017.
Victoria now claims that the transaction should not have been completed without the court’s permission.
“Furthermore, as a beneficiary, the applicant (Victoria) has not come across any evidence to-date that the 1st respondent (Justice Lenaola) indeed paid Sh45 million to the deceased for the purported purchase of the property, which transaction was illegally registered after the deceased passed away, without the sanction of the honourable court, and in any event before the confirmation of the grant,” Victoria says in her court papers.
The executors said in an interview with Nation Africa that the sale was done in accordance with the law, and that Keen was represented by his trusted advocate.
“In respect of Justice Lenaola’s land transaction, the transfer was regularly done by the late John Keen through his advocates in accordance with the sale agreement and its terms. The judge later resigned from being an executor in accordance with the law and for reasons given in his letter of resignation to his co-executors and which was filed in court,” the executors said.
She also claims that Justice Lenaola had a conflict of interest and should not have accepted his appointment as an executor.
Justice Lenaola was a partner at Maina Wachira & Company Advocates before being appointed a High Court judge in 2003.
This, Victoria claims, created a conflict of interest on Justice Lenaola’s part, and that it should have been enough for the judge to decline his appointment as an executor and trustee of Keen’s Will.
Maina Wachira & Company Advocates handled many of Keen’s legal affairs, including his will and representing him in the land transfer to Justice Lenaola.
The law firm was headed by founder Maina Wachira, who died in 2021.
The deceased lawyer’s family has now been dragged into the Keen succession saga, as Victoria has enjoined executors of his estate Nguru Muregi Wachira and Murage Mwangi Wachira in her latest application.
Victoria wants Wachira’s kin ordered to produce documents relevant to the work they handled for Keen in his lifetime, and those for the estate after the former assistant minister’s death in 2016.
Victoria claims that Wachira was instrumental in the allegedly irregular transfer of assets worth Sh1.487 billion after Keen’s death.
Maina Wachira & Company Advocates drafted Keen’s Will in December, 2015, and represented Keen in the transfer of the Karen land to Justice Lenaola.
