A daughter of a former minister Mbiyu Koinange whose family has been battling over property has been ordered to deposit in court one of title deeds for 88 acres.
According to the order issued by family division judge Aggrey Muchelule, Lennah Koinange is supposed to hand over the title to the court pending the distribution of the estate of her late father.
She has 14 days within which she should give the title.
The judge noted that Lennah did not have the consent of other estate administrators when she hived off the land from the estate and developed it.
“Although the administrators and the other beneficiaries knew that she had developed and was residing in the hived property, the dispute was that she caused the parcel to be transferred to her name without a court order or consent of all the parties," Muchelule said.
Lennah had asked court to allow her keep the property, arguing that she took it to protect the residence of her late mother. She stated that she had been occupying the land in question after she was evicted from the portion that was sold to other parties, through consent of the court.
Widow Eddah Wanjiru Mbiyu had informed the court that Lennah did not seek the consent of other beneficiaries when she took over the land.
Kionange died without a will on September 3, 1981.
At the same time, a court stopped the Director of Public Prosecutions from prosecuting four lawyers over alleged misappropriation of Sh284 million from the estate.
Justice Weldon Korir held that lawyers Alice Wahome, Evans Monari, Justry Nyaberi and Beatrice Kariuki had made a strong case to warrant stopping their prosecution pending determination of the dispute.
The lawyers sought to stop their arrest over the alleged theft of Sh284 million from Koinange’s estate arguing that one of the widows (Eddah) complained to the police that they misappropriated the funds by inflating the figures in a bid to depict them as dishonest advocates.
(Edited by P. Wanambisi)
