This archive report was first published on 4 December 2019.
Former Cabinet Minister Njenga Karume left behind a vast estate worth over Ksh 100 billion when he passed away in February 2012. The estate included high-end hotels, real estate, coffee and tea plantations, and shares in several companies.
However, almost eight years after his death, Karume's family members are wallowing in poverty, despite the billions of money locked up in bank accounts.
One of Karume's daughters, Jane Mukuhi Wahito, died of bile-duct cancer on Wednesday last week. She will be buried in Israel due to the family's inability to afford the funds to bring her body home.
According to sources within her family, less than 10 people will attend the ceremony, which will cost approximately Ksh 700,000.
Wahito's decision to be buried abroad was reportedly made to avoid the drama that followed the demise of her niece in the US in September this year. Michelle Karume, a grand-daughter of the billionaire business mogul, died begging for funds to treat her illness.
Before her painful death, Michelle penned an emotional letter detailing how the trustees managing her grandpa's estate had forsaken her, leaving her to go for months without medication.
"The clock is ticking while every day I sit by my phone to hear some good news on funds, but three months later I am waiting here; still waiting for my phone to ring, but in return, I get less communication to a point nobody can pick up my calls," she wrote.
