Two women, known to be widows of a former minister in Mzee Jomo Kenyatta's administration, have been disinherited stalling the end of a 35-year-old dispute over his wealth.
Justice William Musyoka divided a Sh17.4 billion estate among eight beneficiaries but declared Margaret Njeri and Eddah Wanjiru are not Mbiyu Koinange's widows.
In a ruling on Friday, Musyoka removed Njeri and Wanjiru as administrators and did not assign them any portion of the estate.
The two women's request for the temporary suspension of the ruling was declined.
The Judge distributed the property among two other widows and their children; they each have five.
It includes the 4,292-acre Muthera Farm in Mau Narok, Ihothia Farm (646 acres), Kiambaa (98 acres), Closeburn estate (176 acres) and Waehothia (198 acres), all in Kiambu county.
Musyoka also divided plots in Nairobi, Mombasa and other parts of the country.
He further distributed shares in troubled Mbo-I-Kamiti, Gatantha Farmers, BAT Kenya, Ocean View Beach Hotel,
ICDC,
Limuru Dairy, KCC and KGGCU.
The judge named David Mbiyu and David Koinange the estate's administrators, and ordered them to immediately recover the hotel's assets sold under unclear circumstances.
Musyoka ordered the sale of a farm in Lunga Lunga, and the use of the money to settle the estate's debts and the distribution of the balance to beneficiaries.
“To facilitate the distribution of the land and assets whose title documents have been misplaced or lost, I order the cancellation of such titles and direct the chief land registrar to issue new ones,” he added.
Koinange, who served in for President Kenyatta's administration for 16 years, died on September 2, 1961.
His widows and children's fight for his wealth saw the filing of a case in court in 1981, which has been heard by 25 judges, and resulted in the filing of 50 parallel cases.
Njeri divorced Koinange and married Charles Karuga, Koinange's brother, who is also deceased.
She did not have any children with Koinange.
Wanjiru is said to have been Koinange’s assistant and cohabited with him briefly. They had no children.