• Lennah said she also has a dairy farm, greenhouses and other horticultural crops and it would be unfair to reduce or relocate her to another part of the estate.
• Her stepmother Eddah Wanjiru, the fourth wife of her late father, wants the contentious Closeburn estate shared equally.
Image: FILE
A daughter of Jomo Kenyatta-era Cabinet Minister Mbiyu Koinange wants to be granted 88 acres of the Closeburn Estate adjacent to Two Rivers Mall.
Lennah Koinange told Justice Aggrey Muchelule that she has occupied a large area of Closeburn Estate farm, including the dam area where she has invested heavily in a convention centre compromising a hotel, restaurant, water sports and accommodation — all worth Sh250 million.
Through lawyer Sheila Oduor, Lennah said she also has a dairy farm, greenhouses and other horticultural crops and it would be unfair to reduce or relocate her to another part of the estate. The court heard that she is willing to surrender her commensurate share on any other state property to which she is entitled to another beneficiary.
But her stepmother Eddah Wanjiru, the fourth wife of her late father, wants the contentious Closeburn estate shared equally. She has maintained that each house should get 60 acres out of the remaining 240. In her affidavit sworn in March 2018, Eddah indicated that the estate was valued at Sh2.8 billion. But the estimates, according to her lawyer Paul Muite, have gone up, with one acre said to go for Sh200 million.
The land was originally 692 acres but some portions have been sold. Some 250 acres were sold to the Aga Khan Group, 100 acres to Centum and 50 to Karura Community Chapel.
Lennah yesterday told the court she should be allowed to retain the portion she occupies. Her lawyer said Margaret Njeri, the third widow of her father, and Eddah got married to him long after all her siblings had been born — Margaret in 1975, about six years before his death. She said the two do not deserve an equal share of the estate.
She told the court to consider giving her 30 acres at the place where her mother and other deceased siblings were buried (Kiambaa/Thimbugua), adding that her brother David Njunu Mbiyu gave her his share of the property.
Regarding Waihothia farm situated between Old Limuru Road and Nairobi-Nazareth Hospital Road (valued at Sh1.5 billion) and measuring about 198 acres and the 645 acres Ehothia farm located between Old Banana-Limuru road and Nazareth Hospital road (valued at Sh5.1 billion, she said no permanent structures have been built by any of the beneficiaries and no one resides there. Hence, the redistribution of those two properties will not affect any beneficiary or members of the family. Margaret and Edda had in their proposals claimed full rights of both farms.
"No priority should be given to the two as there was no occupation on the said land. Let the court conduct a site visit to Closeburn and all the other properties to confirm the extensive investments in the occupied properties," she said
The assets — 31 in total — form part of the estate that is available for distribution. The protracted legal battle has dragged in court for more than three decades.
Lawyer Ashford Muriuki, acting for Susan Kamau Kihara — the wife of Solomon Kihara Koinange who is the son of Damaris Mbiyu (the second wife) — claimed that she has not been treated fairly. She urged the court to ensure equity when distributing the estate. She dismissed an argument by senior counsel Muite that they should go the Kikuyu customary way in dividing the estate equally among the four houses.
"It will not be fair and just if we are to go the customary way. It will be disproportionate. Customary law will be inconsistent with the Constitution," she said.
The case proceeds today.
(Edited by F'Orieny)