Koinange family loses Supreme Court bid, head for distribution of property

Mbiyu Koinange was one of the wealthiest Kenyans when he died. The man who was a politician during the Kenyatta era and established himself as a force to reckoned with financially.

But his death left a long court battle among the surviving members over the wealth that he left behind.

The long-running court battle for the control of billions amassed by the former powerful Cabinet minister Mbiyu Koinange may come to an end.

This is after a three-judge bench of the Court of Appeal on Friday rejected a bid by three family members to escalate the matter to the Supreme Court.

The judges ruled that there was nothing of great public importance in the matter, which began soon after Koinange’s death in 1981, to warrant asking the apex court to deal with it.

Justices William Ouko, Asike Makhandia, and Otieno Odek said the issues raised in the intended appeal "cannot be said to be of any special jurisprudential".

Some of the beneficiaries of the multi-million shilling estate wanted to be allowed to move to the highest court to challenge an appeal ruling made last year.

The Appeals court, at that time, included two women as beneficiaries of the estate and stripped another of rights to inherit Koinange.

The application which was rejected had been filed by George Kihara Mbiyu, David Waiganjo Kionange, and Lennah Wanjiku.

They wanted the three judges to allow them to take the matter to the Supreme Court saying a number of issues have been overlooked.

In their application, the three had faulted the court saying it should have concentrated only on the evidence that was adduced during the trial and not those introduced in affidavits later.

Among the issues, the family wanted to be dealt with includes question as to whether a person who is customarily married to another has the capacity to contract a statutory marriage.

They also want the court to rule whether a certificate of marriage issued under the Marriage Act supersedes a customary marriage contracted under the Kikuyu Customary law.

Kihara, Waiganjo, and Wanjiku are also dissatisfied with the courts move to include Margaret Njeri and Eddah Mbiyu as part of the estates' beneficiaries.

Their protest is that the two women were not Koinange’s widows – as Margaret divorced him and married his brother.

They also claimed Eddah was an assistant to the former Minister and cohabited with him briefly but never bore him a child.

But lawyers Paul Muite and Ahmednasir Abdullahi opposed the application saying the case does not disclose any matter of general public importance.

The lawyers told the court that the matter was well settled after the evaluation of evidence on record in various categories, including affidavits, application for interim letters of administration.

The family will now have to appear before Justice Aggrey Muchelule for the distribution of the properties.