Malindi tycoon Charo Shutu, who died in July 2003, had 38 wives, 26 have died. The house has 48 bedrooms, two for each of the widows.
A son of Malindi businessman Charo Shutu – the godfather of a family once gazetted as a criminal gang – has built a Sh20 million house for his father’s 12 widows.
Japhet Noti Shutu, known as Janja, on Sunday; Mother’s Day,
handed over the modern house to the widows in a colourful ceremony. The Catholic Church presided over it.
Shutu, who died in July 2003, had 38 wives, 26 have died.
The new building is at the family home where Noti’s father lived until his death, leaving behind the wives, 400 children and hundreds of grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Noti, 64, a businessman dealing in real estate, is the second-born of the first wife who died years back.
He said the house, on half an acre, consists of two bedrooms and a verandah for each widow, totalling 24 sets of two bedrooms.
Not said the house is aimed at rebranding Charo Shutu’s image.
Last year, Noti announced during his father’s anniversary that he would build homes for so widows can live comfortable lives.
The project immediately started and was officially opened on Sunday in a celebration at their matrimonial home. Then he handed the keys to them.
The service brought together Shutu’s children, grandchildren and great grandchildren who gathered to celebrate Mother’s Day in style.
Noti said he has struggled for decades for the family to get justice.
He said the family has lost huge chunks of land to grabbers and during his struggle to reclaim them, the family was branded an outlawed gang.
Noti managed to reclaim 100 acres of the total 479 that had been grabbed by residents, he said.
“Our fortunes are slowly changing after the High Court in Malindi cleared our name and ordered that it be degazetted as a criminal gang,” he said.
Shutu’s daughter Salama Charo said her mother is one of the beneficiaries of the house and she is very happy.
“It is very rare for a son to build for his mother. They have suffered, let them now enjoy,” she said.
Noti said the construction and donation of the house was in line with the plans and dreams of their father, who once wished to settle all the 38 wives in Malindi town.
The Charo Shutu family has been living in poverty since the demise of their father, who was a prominent personality in Malindi.
Shutu was also a famous medicine man and traditional dancer who performed for first President Jomo Kenyatta and his successor Daniel Moi.
In 2002, the government branded the family a dangerous criminal gang. All this while, Noti said he was moving in government offices seeking justice.
(+) Four family members sentenced to death
In 2012, the High Court upheld a death sentence imposed on four Charo Shutu family members for robbery with violence.
The four are Mzee Shutu’s sons Biria Charo Shutu and Kingi Fondo Shutu and grandsons Festus Kahindi Shutu and Amani Charo Shutu.
Ironically, their victim was Japhet Noti Charo, one of Mzee Shutu’s older sons.
The family faulted the court verdict and vowed to take the battle to the Court of Appeal.
“The decision is wrong. It did not take into consideration several issues we raised in our appeal. Many of the issues required an in-depth investigation, which was not done,” said one of Mzee Shutu’s sons, Gilbert Shutu.
In the ruling, High Court judges Francis Tuiyot and Christine Meoli dismissed the four’s appeal, saying it had no merit.