Nyong'o's nephew seeks jail term for governor in property tussle

Kisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong'o locked in an estate row with relatives. [Photo, File]

Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o and his sister Nyagoy Nyong’o could be jailed up to six months in jail over their father’s expansive estate should an application by one of his nephews sail through.

Yesterday, Nyong'o’s nephew Kenneth Odhiambo made a fresh application to have the two punished for failing to comply with an order issued in October directing them to file an account of his father’s property within 45 days.

The application came a few hours after Nyong’o and his sister withdrew an appeal challenging the decision by the lower court directing them to share the property in the protracted legal battle.

According to Odhiambo, the duo alongside other family members Susan Mudhune, Esther Nyong’o and Mary Owiti were yet to render an account of the deceased’s estate.

“The estate of the deceased stands to be wasted if an account is not opened for the purposes of depositing all proceeds of the estate,” said Odhiambo.

In an application filed under a certificate of urgency, Odhiambo has sought for five orders including prayers for a jail term for both Nyong’o and Nyagoy for a period not exceeding six months.

On October 11, this year, Justice Thrispisa Cherere revoked the administrative certificate that placed Prof Nyong’o and Risper Nyagoy as the sole controllers of the expansive estate.

This was after his nephews Odhiambo and Kenneth Odhiambo lodged a successful suit in which they were seeking to have their families included in the list of beneficiaries.

They argued that other family members were also left out.

The property valued at about Sh200 million includes 100 acres in Miwani under a 99-year lease, parcels of land in Manyatta, Tamu and Milimani estates, and East Rata in Seme sub-county in Kisumu.

It also includes another parcel of land with flats along Jogoo Road in Nairobi.

In earlier proceedings, Nyong'o and Nyagoy had objected to the inclusion of the two nephews, arguing that they were not beneficiaries of the property.

Nyagoy, who also represented Nyong’o, told a Kisumu court that the omissions were not done in bad faith.

But in her ruling, Justice Cherere said that the grant that the two obtained to manage the property was obtained illegally.

In their appeal that was withdrawn however yesterday, the duo had claimed the judge had erred in law in and in fact in revoking the certificate of confirmation of grant.

They had also objected the appointment of Odhiambo as a co-administrator without considering the petitioner’s evidence produced in court adding that the court arrived at the wrong findings.