Kibaki takes row over firm to appellate court

Former President Mwai Kibaki has gone to court seeking to regain control of a company he claims to have co-owned since the 1970s.
Mr Kibaki and Mr Kimwatu Kanyungu, a director of the firm, want the Court of Appeal to overturn orders issued by the Environment and Land Court that two factions of the Mathingira Wholesalers Ltd directors continue managing the company jointly.

Through senior counsel Kamau Kuria, the two also want the appellate court to quash an order that the firm elects new board officials to run its affairs.

They want the directors running Mathingira Wholesalers to be removed, with control of the company reverting to them.

Mr Kuria said the former president and Mr Kanyungu were not heard by Justice Lucy Waithaka, who issued the orders. In the notice of motion, the lawyer said some parties in the suit, whose dispute started in 2008, died, and no substitutions were made.

He indicated that Justice Waithaka ignored the principle that equity follows the law.

The row started when the firm’s directors disagreed on its management after a new chairman was elected, replacing Mr Kanyungu, in October 2007.