• A ruling to be made on May 5.
• Margart says they adopted two children who have always depended on her.
Image: FILE
A widow of former Cabinet MInister Mbiyu Koinange says she should not be denied a share of his estate on condition that she bore no child.
Margaret Njeri says that although Koinanage did not sire a child with her, a decision made over the sharing of his disputed estate should not discriminate against her.
"We adopted two children and it is not correct for some of the beneficiaries to now purport that the third house is made up of only one person. The two children have always looked up to me for their upkeep and maintenance," she said.
Margaret attributed her failure to give birth to "pure biological forces" that should not be used against her. However, yesterday, the case came to a close after a judge set May 5 as judgment day.
Koinange died on September 3, 1981, without a will. He left behind four widows — Loise Njeri, Ruth Damaris Wambui, Margaret and Edda Wanjiru. The first wife had died when Koinange was alive. The second passed on after his demise.
More than 30 assets worth billions of shillings form part of the estate. In November last year, Justice Aggrey Muchelule visited one of the expansive farms belonging to the former Cabinet minister. The tour of Closeburn Estate and other properties was done to confirm investments. Closeburn was originally 692 acres, but some portions have been sold — 250 to the Aga Khan Group, 100 to Centum and 50 to Karura community chapel.
In a new affidavit, Margaret says before Closeburn is distributed, the land should be surveyed to ascertain which property remains for distribution. She claims that Koinage's children Lena Wanjiku and David Waiganjo from the second house have denied her access to Closeburn, put up structures on the property and leased them out to third parties.
Lena has developed more than 88 acres while David has occupied more than 40 acres. The two are Ruth Damaris' children. Margaret, in court documents, claims that Ruth was divorced by Koinange in 1996 when Lena was born.
Margaret says it is through her hard work and Eddah's that they have saved the assets, including Muthera farm in Mau Narok, Closeburn estates (otherwise known as the jewel of the crown of the estate) and the city centre property (near the Supreme Court Building, Nairobi). She says the assets could have been lost to criminal acts perpetrated by Lena, Barbra Koinange and David.
"It is amazing that both David and his sister Lena, who are the only surviving children of Mbiyu's second house have in one way or another intermeddled with a number of the assets of this estate whereby they behave as if the two are the only beneficiaries of the estate," Margaret says.
Separately, Eddah says after the court visit to Closeburn on November, it was obvious that there is extensive intermeddling. She has proposed that the court approves and appoints one David Gachanja of Ardhi Surveys Consultants Ltd to resurvey the entire Closeburn estate.
“It is my belief that a new surveyor should be engaged by the court to correctly ascertain the actual acreage occupied by Aga Khan, Karura and Centum Limited. A resurvey of the acreage occupied by the three parties will assist in establishing the proper acreage available for distribution," she says.
Both houses maintain that the estate should in all the circumstances be distributed on a house-to-house basis in line with the Kikuyu customary law.
"It is fair to distribute the estate on the basis of equality to all the houses in that distributing the same on a unit basis will result in grave unfairness to the third and fourth houses," the documents read.
(Edited by F'Orieny)