Businesswoman Ann Njeri’s mother, Pauline Wanjiru Njoroge, has revealed that the so-called oil tycoon has not visited her for the last six years, further expressing astonishment at her daughter’s supposed wealth.
Njeri has made headlines this past week after finding herself embroiled in a dispute with two oil companies over the ownership of a Ksh.17 billion oil shipment.
Wanjiru says that her last conversation with 55-year-old Njeri was a phone call four months ago.
“We normally talk on the phone when necessary. I have been praying that one day she will visit me. The last time she was here was more than five years ago. Almost six years now. She tells me that she has been very busy and I stopped asking her when she will come to visit me,” Wanjiru told the Nation from her modest home in Kianjege village, Kiambu County.
“I would love to meet my daughter whom you are asking me about.”
While noting that her daughter, a mother of five, dropped out of school at Form One, Wanjiru acknowledged that she helps out financially from time to time, though she admitted to being unaware of her daughter’s specific source of income.
“To answer your question on whether she supports me financially or not, I would say she helps where she can and I have nothing personal against her. It is her money and I don’t even know whether she is rich or not. What I know is that she tells me she runs businesses in Dubai and Kenya, but I cannot tell exactly what she does for a living,” Wanjiru, a widow, said.
“Another thing is that, you can tell whether your son or daughter is successful if he or she visits you or you visit where she or he lives, and you assess whether she is doing well in life or not. But like I told you, it is almost six years since I last saw her, so it is hard to say whether she is rich or not.”
The National Assembly Energy Committee has summoned Njeri to appear before it and shed light on the Ksh.17 billion oil saga pitting her against the Ministry of Energy.
The committee, in a letter to Njeri, says they want her to furnish the team with the country of origin of the consignment, indicators of pricing, the intended destination of the consignment, its place in the current government-to-government arrangement on oil importation, ownership and any other particulars that she would wish to share.
Njeri, through her lawyer Cliff Ombeta, has confirmed attendance, insisting that the consignment in question belongs to her and that her key witness is the Captain of the ship which has since left the country.
The summon comes after Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir dismissed Njeri’s claims of ownership of the fuel, stating that her company – Anns Import and Export Enterprises Limited – is not even listed as a licensed petroleum import company.
CS Chirchir, in a statement to newsrooms on Wednesday evening, revealed that the businesswoman’s company has not signed the open tendering system agreement hence cannot claim to have imported a diesel cargo into Kenya.