Court reopens fight over Stanley Githunguri’s $14m Nairobi property empire
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Kenya’s Environment and Land Court has set aside an injunction that protected the late tycoon Stanley Githunguri’s estate, reopening litigation over Lilian Towers, the 680 Hotel and Ridgeways Mall.
A Kenyan court has reopened the fight over late tycoon Stanley Githunguri’s estate, estimated at between Sh1.8 billion and Sh1.9 billion ($14 million to $15 million), by overturning an order that had protected the family’s properties.
Judge Charles Mbogo of the Environment and Land Court ruled that the court had made an error when it granted the injunction in February, finding that it had wrongly treated the application as unopposed even though one of the defendants had filed a defence.
“The interests of justice require giving every party a fair chance to be heard before a major decision is made,” Mbogo said.
The injunction, first sought in August 2024 and granted on February 9, had been requested by Lilian Githunguri and Clare Githunguri, who were appointed administrators and executors of the estate. They sued seven defendants, including Fredrick Kimani, William Somoe, Samuel Kariuki, Gulf African Bank, the Chief Land Registrar and auctioneers. Kimani, the third defendant, filed his defence in November 2024 and petitioned the court in April; the judge said his position should have been considered before the injunction was granted.
The ruling means the dispute will be heard afresh and removes, for now, the protection the administrators had won over the contested property. Githunguri, a former member of parliament for Kiambaa and an executive director of the National Bank of Kenya, died in November 2022 aged 77. His property empire includes Lilian Towers in Nairobi’s central business district, the 680 Hotel and Ridgeways Mall, and some of the family’s land holdings are leased to corporate tenants.
The estate has been the subject of a long family fight. Last year a feud over the assets reached the High Court, with members of the family disagreeing over who controls key properties and how succession should be handled. That case pitted Githunguri’s eldest son, Joseph Munga, against his sisters over ownership of assets including Lilian Towers, Ridgeways Mall and land in Kiambu and Ruiru. The latest case is listed as Environment and Land Case No. E330 of 2024, and no date has been set for the next hearing.