Kenyan media have reported that Newton Kagira Mukuha, one of the three brothers fighting in court to control supermarket chain Naivas, has asked the court to proceed with the case. In new court filings, he alleges that his brothers, Simon Gashwe Mukuha and David Kimani Mukuha, have failed to respond with defences since he filed an amended suit in December 2014. The brothers have previously told the court that Newton Kagira had squandered his share of the inheritance.
Newton Kagira has since launched his own supermarket, Greenmart, on Nairobi’s Kayole estate. That supermarket was subject to a court case from family members seeking to recover a KSh12.1m (US$0.12m) debt allegedly advanced by Mr Kagira’s mother. The store is just down the road from Naivas’s own Kayole branch.
Mr Kagira has asked the court to declare that he is entitled to 20% ownership of Naivas. He has also asked it to award him all dividends and bonuses accrued since 1998, when he alleges his younger brothers changed Naivas’ shareholding structure in their favour. His two sisters, also shareholders in Naivas, have sided with their brothers.
