K1 Club daughters in tussle with brothers over Sh2bn property

Daughters of billionaire businessman James Mwangi Kirung’o alias Kahama are locked in a court fight with their brothers over the family estate worth Sh2 billion that includes Nairobi’s K1 Club House and Kahama hotels.

The three daughters accuse their two brothers of excluding them and their mother from ownership of the estate that also includes Small World Country Club, banks, Kenya International Hotel, famously known as Kahama, land and houses spread across the country.

The daughters are in court seeking orders to force their brothers — John Kirungo Mwangi and Sammy Lonce Wakaina — to give details of business accounts since March 1998 when their father died.

They also want the court to direct distribution of the property among all siblings. “That pursuant to the grant issued herein to Eunice Njeri Mwangi on December 7, 1998, the estate herein be shared out among the deceased’s beneficiaries in equal shares or in such proportions as the beneficiaries may agree upon and in default, the honourable court do distribute the estate as it deems just and reasonable,” states the daughters’ lawyer Jeremy Njenga of J. M Njenga and Co Advocates.

Their father left a will, which has been kept a top secret, and appointed their mother, Eunice Njeri Mwangi, as the sole administrator. The will did not share out the property.

The daughters — Hannah, Nancy, and Ruth — claim that their brothers manipulated their mother and took over running of the estate to their exclusion. They accuse their brothers of keeping the will secret and secretly obtaining the power of administration to run the businesses.

Court documents show that the late Mwangi is survived by five children and a widow. One of the sons, Stephen Mwaura, died last year. The late Mwangi left behind an estate valued at billions of shillings. The estate includes several parcels of land and businesses across the country.

At the centre of the legal tussle is the once popular entertainment joint Klub 1 Club House in Parklands whose value — both of the development and land — is estimated at over Sh500 million. Other property are the Kahama Hotels in Nairobi and Mombasa valued at Sh400 million.

The family also owns a residential house in Parklands, an apartment in Kilimani area and the Small World Country Club off Mombasa Road. Behind the club is a 100-acre farm. Kahama Properties Agencies Ltd owns several plots including two in Embakasi next to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and two in Nyahururu.