Two Kenyan sisters based in the US are racing against time to stop their brother from defrauding them of millions of shillings, part of family inheritance left to them by their late father.
Sisters Rose and Jane Musonye of Maryland and Pennsylvania, USA, respectively recently got a message from Kenya that their elder brother, Paul Musonye with whom they have had running battles concerning the distribution of their late father’s property was allegedly trying to con them off an upward of Kshs12 million from the sale of a Kshs 60 million residential house in Nairobi.
“We have reliable information that the property was sold for Kshs 60 million. Our brother through the lawyer on the other hand is telling us it was sold for
Kshs 48 million. Where is the Kshs 12 million difference?” asked Rose Musonye-Smith of Maryland.
As a last resort, the two sisters are now seeking the intervention of the Kenya Anti-corruption Commission (KACC) and Fida to have their brother investigated.
The residential property located in the up-market area of Nairobi’s Kilimani that once housed Red Sea restaurant along Lenana road has become the
battleground for the late Brigadier Reuben Musonye’s estimated $ 3 million he left behind when he passed on in 2003.
Since his passing, the family has been embroiled in a bitter dispute on virtually everything left behind – from an 80-acre farm in Soi to trucks, plots,
bank accounts to cars and Sacco shares. The disputes have always pitied the rest of the family of seven children against their elder brother Paul Musonye.
Recently, a Nairobi court ruled that everything including the house in Nairobi be sold and proceeds distributed equally among Paul’s surviving siblings but the sisters allege that their brother had used their absence not only to manipulate the rest of the family members but also to defraud them off their inheritance.
In an effort to stop the alleged fraud, Jane flew to Nairobi from where she told The Standard over the weekend that, it may be too late as she had
gotten wind that her brother was frantically trying to close up the deal by Monday morning. He is reportedly colluding with the former tenants to shut out the sisters who have advocated for equal share of the family fortunes.
“I had hoped to lodge an injunction in court on Monday but from the reports I m getting, it may be too late. My brother, in his characteristic craftiness,
is trying to have everything settled without our say,” she told The Standard on the phone from Nairobi.
Brigadier (rtd) Reuben Kugu Musonye who also served as a member of the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) and as an ambassador died in 2003 at the Nairobi Hospital where he was undergoing treatment. He was arguably one of the most
wealthy and respected leaders from the Tiriki and indeed the Luhya community.
Inspite of the fact that he left behind a Will with elaborate instructions, the family has engaged in disputes with the rest of the family accusing their elder brother of fraud.
The Musonye saga is a story that will resonate with many in the Diaspora who have fallen victim to dishonest relatives and friends back at home. The Diaspora is full of tales of having been conned by relatives in one way or the other when they have tried to invest back at home.
Tales abound of people having sent huge amounts of cash to their family members for them to undertake and coordinate projects on their behalf only for them to realize much later that the reported projects under construction were a mere hoax. That the pictures they had received showing how far the constructions had progressed were infact pictures of some other constructions taken from somewhere
else.
By Chris Wamalwa in USA
Kenyan sisters in US appeal to KACC to stop being disinherited
