Dispute over control of multimillion Naivas founder's estate escalates

David Kimani Managing Director Naivas speaking during the official opening of Naivas foodmarket King'ara road.[Wilberforce Okwiri,Standard] The fight over the control of the multi-million estate of Naivas Supermarket chain founder, the late Peter Mukuha Kago continues 14 years later. Beneficiaries of the estate are engaged in a bitter succession row with the administrators clashing over the distribution of the estate. Last week, the High Court in Nakuru issued orders compelling various financial institutions to produce records of money held in various bank accounts in the name of Kago and how they were distributed. Justice Julius Nang'ea issued the orders following an application filed by one of the administrators, Grace Wamboi Mukuha. The court ordered the managers of Absa Bank Kenya Limited, Post Bank Kenya Limited, and Standard Chartered Bank Naivasha Branch to hand over the records to Wamboi. Wamboi in her supporting affidavit notes that following the passing of Kago on May 6, 2010, they decided as a family that their brother, Simon Gashwe Mukuha (deceased), be appointed an administrator of the estate. She noted that Gashwe died on August 26, 2019, before completing the distribution of the estate, and due to a misunderstanding in the family, it was not possible to appoint administrators to complete the task of distributing the estate as required by law. She stated that together with her brother, David Kimani Mukuha, they were appointed administrators on March 11, 2024, and the court ordered them to file a record on how the estate of Kago was distributed. The court further ordered the two to file a record on properties that were never distributed. Gashwe, according to Wamboi, did not distribute the funds in various bank accounts held in Absa Bank formerly Barclays Bank Naivasha Branch account, Post Bank account Number 8434 Standard Chartered Bank Naivasha Branch, and the shares held at Barclays Bank account number to the beneficiaries as it was indicated in the confirmed grant. Wamboi allegedly went to the bank managers of Post Bank Kenya Limited, Absa Bank Ltd, and Barclays Bank Ltd to collect the records as ordered by the court. Still, the managers declined to give her the account records and asked to get a court order to authorise her to get the required information. She stated that the co-administrator (Kimani) is not willing to get the information from the bank, thus making it difficult to acquire the records from the said banks. She said it will be impossible for the administrators to file the records with the court as earlier ordered, as the banks have refused to hand over the records to them. She informs the court that there were ten children, but the last born by the name Robert Njau Mukuha passed on in June 1990 and was survived by a wife and ten children. She notes that when an affidavit in support of the petition for letters of administration was filed in court, the name of her late brother and or his wife and or children was omitted. "I don't know the reason why my late brother, Robert Njau Mukuha, has not been provided with any proceeds from his late father, Peter Mukuha Kago, and making his children destitute," she stated. Further, she notes that upon perusal of the schedule of the property distributed by the then administrator (Gashwe), she found out that there was an omission. "Upon perusal of the schedule of properties distributed by the then administrator, Simon Gashwe Mukuha, I found that he omitted to include LR No 8022/88. The said property belongs to the estate of my late father, and the same has not been distributed as required by law," stated Wamboi. Kimani has, however, protested the appointment of Wamboi as co-administrator of the estate. Following the appointment of Wamboi as co-administrator of the estate, Kimani filed a Notice of Appeal at the High Court contesting her appointment. He claims the court made an error in appointing Wamboi as the co-administrator. Kimani, however, maintains that the estate was fully distributed.

Dispute over control of multimillion Naivas founder's estate escalates

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