This archive report was first published on 22 July 2019.
Thirty-five years after Mbiyu Koinange's death on September 3, 1981, his Sh. 17.4 billion estate was finally shared among his family in 2015, following a court ruling.
The court ruling directed the manner in which the properties would be distributed among Koinange's family members, resulting in Kenya's newest billionaires.
According to the court ruling, Koinange's two widows and their ten children were bequeathed the Sh. 17.4 billion estate, which spanned four counties.
However, the women and their children who claimed to be Koinange's widows but were not married to him, Margaret Njeri and Eddah Wanjiru, and their children, walked away empty-handed.
The patriarch's first wife, Loise Mbiyu, and her children secured a large piece of the estate, bagging more than 2,500 acres, while Ruth Mbiyu and her children secured 2,300 acres.
The property shared out included the 4,292-acre Muthera Farm in Mau Narok, Ehothia Farm (645 acres), Waihuthia (198 acres), Closeburn Estate in Kiambu (176 acres), Thirstine Plot (267 acres), Thimbigua in Runda (96 acres), and Ikinu Farm (11 acres), among other plots in Nakuru, Nairobi, and Kiambu counties.
The shares were in Koinange Investments and Development Limited (32,000), Koira Ltd (948,480), Kenyattu (508), Limuru Dairy, ICDC, Elburgon Sawmill, Mbo-I-Kamiti, Gatatha Farmers Company Limited (165), BAT, Kenya Co-operative Creameries Limited, Kenya Planters Co-operative Union Limited, Horticultural Co-operative Union Limited, Theta Group Limited, Kenya Grain Growers Co-operative Union Limited, Oceanview Beach Hotel (11,000), and Oceanic Hotel in Mombasa.
The beneficiaries of the vast wealth were children from his first marriage, including David Njunu, George Kihara, Paul Mbatia, Mary Wambui, and Elizabeth Waruinu, as well as Florence Wanjiku, Isaac Njunu, David Waiganjo, Solomon Kihara, and Lenna Wanjiku, Koinange's children with his second wife.
