Family of slain businessman Jacob Juma yet to enjoy his millions a year later

The late Jacob Juma

The family of slain businessman Jacob Juma is yet to access his multi-million shilling estate more than a year after his death.

A lawyer who had a decree against the businessman placed a caveat on his estate, a month after the High Court sitting in Nairobi allowed his widow Miriam Wairimu Wambugu and friend Anne Wanjira Githenya to manage it.

“Let nothing be done to the estate of Jacob Juma without notice to John Patrick Machira,” the caveat letter by lawyer John Patrick Machira to the High Court read.

Machira who claims to be a decree holder in a case he had filed at the High Court in 2010 against Juma, filed the caveat on June 30. This was a month after Justice Aggrey Muchelule issued letters of grant to the widow and her friend.

The judge said the letters were issued after the two undertook to faithfully administer the estate according to the law.

Juma was shot dead by unknown people while driving past Lenana School on May 5, 2016.

A postmortem indicated that he was killed by two bullets which were shot at close range. Miriam and her friend moved to court on October 31, 2016 to seek for a limited grant of representation of the estate on grounds that it was necessary to have interim administrators to represent Juma in cases that were pending in court.

“We will faithfully administer to law all estate which by law devolves upon and vests in the personal representative of the deceased and we will render a just and true account of such estate wherever required to do so,” the application read. The widow indicated the beneficiaries as herself, their daughter and son. The estate is valued at Sh60 million.

At the time of his death, she indicated that her husband had three pieces of land in Nairobi’s Karen estate. He also owned three cars and had no liabilities. In the affidavit of justification of proposed sureties filed at the court’s registry on October 2016, the two stated that they were the proposed sureties on behalf of the widow and her friend who were the intended administrators of the estate.

On November 29, 2016, High Court judge Lydia Achode issued Miriam and her friend limited letters of grant to enable them represent Juma in some cases that were pending in court.

On April 4 this year, Justice John Oyiengo issued a limited grant to the two for purposes of representing the late Juma in 10 cases.