• Waiganjo was a thorn in the flesh of his mother and stepmothers over land.
• Even the state had a land tussle with him.
David Waiganjo Koinange was driving to his Muthera farm in Nakuru last Thursday when his vehicle rolled over, killing him on the spot.
The controversial son of former powerful Cabinet Minister the late Mbiyu Koinange was 68.
He is survived by his two wives Nancy Wairimu Waiganjo and Rita Waiganjo and six children: Damaris Wambui, Yvonne Wanjiku, Yvette Kabura, Luther Mbiyu, Arthur Ndegwa and Ruth Wambui.
Waiganjo seemed to have had a penchant for controversy on land issues. For this, re was a thorn in the flesh of his mother and stepmothers. Even the state had a land tussle with him.
His hardline stance was perhaps the reason the 4,923 acres Muthera farm located in Mau Narok is infamous. The land was at the centre of a long-running succession battle.
The legal battle pit children of the former Cabinet minister on one hand against his three wives on another.
In 2013, Waiganjo’s two stepmothers Margaret Njeri Mbiyu and Eddah Wanjiru Mbiyu wrote to Police Inspector General to complain about him.
They accused Waiganjo of interfering in the management of the farm by pushing for the establishment of a police post in it.
The stepmothers said that the move would breach peace in the area.
Trouble had started when Wagainjo suspended farm manager Josephat Mpoe on allegations that he was embezzling funds.
In 2016, he ran into crosshairs with the government after he was evicted from two prime beach plots in Mombasa on claims they were public land. The National Social Security Fund reclaimed the land.
They accused the businessman of occupying the land for 20 years without paying rent.
Waiganjo had set up Palm City Grill and Entertainment on the plots. He admitted at the time that he had not paid land rent for 15 years but described the eviction order as unfair and illegal.
His understanding, he said, was that he had obtained ownership of the prime parcels for having set his business on them and developed them. In the time, he paid all the required fees and taxes to the local authorities. “By virtue of that, it [the land] became mine,” he said at the time.
In May, the High Court gave Waiganjo and his siblings an equal share of his father's Sh12 billion estate.