Late former Cabinet Minister John Michuki was known to many as an astute politician and businessman. His reign at the helm of the Transport Ministry streamlined the sector in the country.
While he led a rather public life due to his stature, little remains known about his family. Michuki’s youngest daughter Yvonne Wanja Michuki is probably the most vocal of the former Cabinet Minister’s children.
According to her LinkedIn bio, she is the Managing Director of Be Bold Consulting & Advisory Limited.
Wanja, has held various positions in corporate companies, the government and has recently been in the news headlines over a legal tussle with her lawyers.
File Image of Yvonne Wanja
Education
She attended Bryn Mawr College between 1992 and 1996, where she attained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. She later joined Columbia University – Business School in 200 and graduated with a Master of Business Administration (MBA), Finance in the year 2002.
Career
Wanja first worked as a Corporate Analyst – Barclays Merchant Finance Limited between 1997 and 1999. She was later promoted to Research Manager – Barclays Trust Investment Services Limited where she served until 2000.
While a student in the US, she had a brief stint as a summer associate at Meryll Lynch.
The young Michuki lived in the US for some time, and in 2003, she founded The Highland Tea Company LLC, which was based in New York. She ran the company until 2008.
Wanja was appointed as a Trade, Investment and Multilateral Diplomat for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2009, and was based majorly in London, England until 2014.
In January 2015, she founded Be Bold Consultancy & Advisory Ltd - an independent financial consulting and executive coaching firm, and has served as the company’s Managing Director Since.
Wanja is a tea sector enthusiast and for four months in 2020, she consulted for Ethical Tea Partnership as the Africa Strategy Lead.
Between June and October 2020, she was appointed member of the National Steering Committee on the Implementation of Reforms in Kenya under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives.
Legal Disputes
On July 31, 2021, Daily Nation reported that Wanja had been sued by her lawyers for Ksh184 million.
Agimba and Associates Advocates according to the publication, alleged that Wanja owed them Ksh166 million in legal fees and Ksh17 million to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) as taxes.
The bill reportedly accrued when she sought their services in the tussle for their father’s multi-billion estate in 2018.
According to the lawyers, they charged Ksh32,000 per hour as retainer fee. For a period of four hours, Wanja owed Ksh128,000. She met with the advocates 33 times in seven months before terminating their services after which they moved to court stating that she owed them Ksh184 million.
On August 6, Wanja triumphed in the case against the lawyers after Family Court registrar Wandia Nyamu ruled that the law firm could not bill while they had an existing contract whose cost had already been footed.
The late John Michuki and Yvone Wanja
“Having considered the documents on record and precedent attached, I agree with the respondent (Wanja) that the applicant (Agimba) cannot tax the bill when there was an agreement in existence and payment having been made and strike out the advocate/client bill of costs dated December 18, 2019,” Nyamu ruled.
Battle for Michuki’s Estate
Wanja had sought the services of the lawyers, instructing them to re-evaluate the worth of her father’s estate and ensure she gets a sixth of it.
Following the deaths of the former cabinet minister and his wife Josephine, there has been a nasty court battle among the six siblings over control of the estate.
According to a report by Daily Nation in May 2019, Wanja filed a case in a bid to revoke a court document that gave the mandate to her elder siblings Anne Wanjiru Mutahi and Fredrick Chege to manage the multi-billion shillings estate.
She argued that her elder siblings had not disclosed their mother’s last wishes which gave full disclosure of the assets.
She had also sought Ksh300,000 monthly upkeep from the patriarchs of the Michuki estate.
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