Over the years, wealthy Kenyan tycoons have died leaving behind billions of shillings in assets and liquid money.
As a result of this, there are around 30 high-profile inheritance disputes that are currently active in Kenyan courts.
Families of the deceased are fighting over, among others, wealth distribution, legitimacy of marriages and wills validity.
WoK looks at tycoons who left billions and the amount.
Gerishon Kamau Kirima
Gerishon Kamau Kirima was former Starehe Member of Parliament and an assistant minister.
Diabetic and partially blind, Kirima died on December 28, 2010 while undergoing treatment in Johannesburg, South Africa.
He was 80 years old.
Kirima left behind an estate valued at Ksh 2 billion.
John Michuki
John Michuki was a businessman and politician who served as Permanent Secretary in the Finance Ministry, Chairman of the Kenya Commercial Bank, Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister.
Michuki died at the age of 79 on February 21, 2012, reportedly of a heart attack at the Agha Khan University Hospital.
He left behind an estate estimated at Ksh 30 billion.
Njenga Karume
Njenga Karume was a businessman and a politician who served in various offices including the Minister for State Defence and Member of Parliament for Kiambaa.
He also served as Minister for Special Programs in the Office of the President.
He died at the Karen Hospital on February 17, 2012 due to a cardiac arrest. By the time he died, he was preparing to go to Israel for further treatment but he developed an infection.
Karume left behind wealth estimated at Ksh 40 billion.
Mbiyu Koinange
Mbiyu Koinange left behind an estate estimated at Ksh 17 billion.
He served in the government and cabinet of Jomo Kenyatta for 16 years.
Koinange held the post of member of parliament for the Kiambaa constituency and also served as Minister of State for Education, External Affairs, Pan-African Affairs and Minister of State in the Office of the President.
Former President Daniel Arap Moi
Daniel Toroitich arap Moi was Kenya’s longest-serving president having served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002.
The retired Head of State died at The Nairobi Hospital on February 4, 2020, at the age of 95, in the presence of family.
According to Nation, Moi left behind a fortune estimated at Ksh 340 billion.
Simeon Nyachae
Simeon Nyachae was a politician and businessman running a chain of businesses ranging in nature from agriculture, banking, real estate, transportation and manufacturing.
He also served in the government as Minister for Agriculture and Minister for Finance.
Nyachae left behind an estate valued at Ksh 2 billion.
Mark Too
Mark Too died in December 2016 at St Lukes Hospital in Eldoret where he had been rushed in critical condition after a short-term illness.
He was former nominated MP of Kapsaret, Uasin Gishu County during KANU regime and a lose right-hand man of the former President Daniel Moi.
He left behind a Ksh 3 billion estate.
Jonathan Moi
Jonathan Moi is the son of former President Daniel arap Moi.
According to the family’s Press Secretary Lee Njiru, the safari rally enthusiast succumbed to cancer at a hospital in Nakuru.
He left behind an estate estimated at Ksh 30 million.
Nderitu Gachagua
Nderitu Gachagua was a businessman and politician who served as the first governor of Nyeri County having been elected in 2013.
Gachagua died on 24 February 2017 at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London while undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer.
He left behind a fortune worth Ksh 2 billion.
John Keen
John Keen was a Kenyan politician who served as an assistant Minister for Agriculture and Member of Parliament for Kajiado North Constituency from 1969 to 1979.
He died on Christmas Day 2016 at the Aga Khan Hospital aged 90.
Keen left an estate estimated at Ksh 13 billion.
JM Kariuki
JM Kariuki was a politician who served during the administration of Jomo Kenyatta’s government and held different government positions from 1963 until his assassination in 1975.
The then Nyandarua North MP was reported missing only for his body to be discovered 10 days later at Nairobi City Mortuary.
He left a fortune valued at Ksh 4 billion.
James Kanyotu
James Kanyotu was Kenya’s longest serving spy chief, heading the Directorate of Security Intelligence from 1965 until his retirement in 1991.
Kanyotu died in February 2008 leaving behind an estate estimated to be worth Ksh 20 billion.
Dickson Kihika Kimani
Dickson Kihika Kimani was a politician who served as a Member of Parliament in 3 different constituencies: Nakuru North,Laikipia West and Molo.
Kihika died at Nairobi Hospital in November 2004 at the age of 78.
He left behind an estate estimated at Ksh 600 million.
Ken Matiba
Kenneth Matiba was a Kenyan politician who served under both former presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Moi administrations.
He died on April 15, 2018 at Nairobi Hospital where he was undergoing treatment.
Matiba left behind a fortune estimated at Ksh 732 million.
Tob Cohen
The body of Tob Cohen, a former CEO of Philips Electronics East Africa, was found dumped in a septic tank at his home in September 2019.
He had amassed a fortune totaling about Ksh 700 million by the time he died.
