The High Court has ordered Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o and his sister Risper Nyagoy to include all children belonging to their two sisters as beneficiaries of their late father’s multimillion-shilling property.
According to Justice Tripsisa Cherere while giving her ruling said that she had revoked the administrative letters and certificate of confirmation of grant that placed Prof Nyong’o and Dr Nyagoy as the sole controllers of the estate and appointed one of the nephews, Kenneth Odhiambo Okuthe as co-administrators of the late Hewson Shimei Nyong’o’s estate.
In addition she directed the Kisumu governor Prof Nyong’o and his siblings to file an account of Shimei’s estate and certificate of confirmation that had been issued to them, about four years ago that gave them the power to control the estate with 45 days.
In the case, Prof Nyong’o’s nephews Mr Okuthe and Geoffrey Omondi had sued him and his sister Dr Nyagoy for leaving some relatives out of the list of beneficiaries of their late father’s estate.
They told the court that Prof Nyong’o and Dr Nyagoy were made administrators of the property after a local chief certified their mother and other siblings as true beneficiaries.
Mr Omondi and Ms Fiona Atieno are the late Judith Nyong’o’s children, Prof Nyongo’s sister. The governor’s other sister is Margaret Awuor, who is Mr Okuthe’s mother. She died died in 1994.
After their parents’ death, the two were brought up by their grandfather Shimei, who died on November 10, 2006. He did not leave a will behind.
The property under contention includes 100 acres of land in Miwani and flats beside Jogoo road in Nairobi. Others are parcels of land are in Manyatta, Tamu, Milimani estate and East Rata in Seme Sub-County, Kisumu.
Justice Cherere said that she was satisfied that the petitioners were entitled property of the deceased and that the grant that gave the two (Prof Nyong’o and Dr Nyagoy) control of the multimillion-shilling property was obtained illegally.
“I am satisfied that the grant was obtained by concealment of material facts and no-disclosure of the applicant’s interest and on the basis of untrue allegations,” said Justice Cherere.
In his response to the case during the hearing, Prof Nyong’o termed the two as opportunists who wants to take advantage of him now that he holds as elected post.
He argued that he helped his nephews Mr Omondi Nyong’o and Mr Okuthe by securing them and other relatives jobs in public service offices when he served as minister in the Narc government and the grand coalition.
But Justice Cherere in her ruling said that since the applicants are working and that Dr Nyagoy had given one of them a piece of land in Kit Mikayi, it does not stop them from inheriting their grandfather’s property.
She further stated that Dr Nyagoy revealed that except for the land in East Seme where their ancestral land sits, all Shimei’s estate were commercial properties noting their rent are collected yet no trust funds account had been opened more than four years from when the grant was confirmed.
Justice Cherere directed that the three appointed administrators, Prof Nyong’o, Dr Nyagoy and Mr Okuthe to apply within 60 days for the confirmation of the grant as after ascertaining all persons and their respective entitlement of the property.