Martin Shikuku’s Son Appeals to Ruto Over Will Wrangles
The family of former Assistant Minister Martin Shikuku has urged President William Ruto to intervene and speed up the legal proceedings that have impeded their access to the deceased politician’s assets for the past eleven years.
In 1969, Shikuku was an Assistant Minister in the administration of Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta.
In 2012, he passed away after a lengthy battle with illness, leaving behind several properties, including a 100-acre plot of land in Kiminini and a three-bedroom maisonette in Olympic Estate, Kibra.
Other assets included a four-bedroom home in Butere, another home in South C, two units in the Oyster Apartments on Riverside Drive in Lavington, and undisclosed sums of currency in various Kenyan and foreign accounts.
Wednesday, Shikuku’s son, Emmanuel Noel Shikuku, questioned why the case had carried on for so many years without making any progress.
“I’ve been in court for years, and every time during the court proceedings, the prosecution will say that they did not file the documents in court which leads to the case being postponed for three or four months,” he said.
“Another time, we were informed that the judge went on leave. This is the abuse of power. I’m talking to the President to help me.”
If the president grants his request, the younger Shikuku has promised to provide evidence regarding the corrupt vulnerabilities in Kenya’s judicial system.
The evidence, according to Emmanuel, will be derived from the court documents he has accumulated over the years.
His sister, Lucia Shikuku, criticized her Botswana-based siblings for prolonging the court proceedings by contesting the will’s contents in court.
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“When we began the succession, I have elder brothers in Botswana who rejected the succession matter, saying that there is no will,” she stated.
“Since we have the will and the marriage certificate of our mother, Dolorosa Achieng’ Shikuku, we have no problem dividing the wealth with them.”
She accused senior government officials of conspiring with her siblings to illegally grant them access to certain properties. She insisted that the court procedure must be expedited to resolve the succession issue.
The dispute over the ownership of Shikuku’s wealth has lingered for years. Initially, a 2012 judicial order granted Emmanuel control over his father’s assets.
However, days later, Justice Thande Mugure halted the order’s implementation in response to his siblings’ allegations that Emmanuel had forged the will in his favor.
According to Emmanuel, Shikuku left behind one wife, Dolly Achieng, and four children in his will.
Stephen Shikuku, one of Emmanuel’s siblings, stated in the court documents that Shikuku had three wives and a larger family than was indicated in the court documents.
Martin Shikuku’s Son Appeals to Ruto Over Will Wrangles
