The estranged wife of William Oguda Osewe, the proprietor of Ranalo Foods, wants the High Court to restrain her former husband from selling the assets of the company and reinstate her into the management of the restaurant.
Ms Stella Mutheu—a 50/50 co-owner of the business trading as K'osewe—wants him restrained from disposing off company assets or altering shareholder details at the Registrar of Companies.
Ms Mutheu, who separated with Mr Osewe in 2022, wants the hotelier restricted from opening new bank accounts and new mobile payment wallets, stating that he has sidelined her from the management of Ranalo Foods, which operates outlets on Nairobi’s Kimathi Street, in Parklands and on Kiambu Road.
She also wants to be restored to active management, alleging she has been sidelined from operations despite her 50 percent stake. The court papers also revealed that the Kenya Revenue Authority has frozen one of the company's bank accounts over unpaid taxes.
"The first defendant's (Osewe's conduct) since 2018 has been extremely offensive and unfairly prejudicial to my interests in the second Defendant/Company (Ranalo Foods Limited) and as such, it is necessary and justifiable to grant the prayers sought in the plaint to prevent any further infringement, financial loss and damage to me and the Second Defendant," said Ms Mutheu in an affidavit dated April 8, 2025.
The taxman froze one of Ranalo Foods’ bank accounts in March over tax arrears of Sh837,267, briefly choking cash flows and piling pressure on Mr Osewe, who is also battling auctions from GT Bank. KRA confirmed the March 25 agency notice was lifted in April.
Auctioneers invited bids for Blue Waters Hotel, an incomplete three-star development in Kisumu’s Milimani area linked to Mr Osewe, even as apartments in Nairobi’s South C were also listed for sale over an unpaid Sh300 million loan to GT Bank.
According to the filings, the Kisumu sale stems from a Sh220 million loan and a Sh10 million overdraft taken on May 12, 2014, to finance the 24-room project as Mr Osewe sought to scale up in hospitality.
As repayment pressures mounted, GT Bank and Blue Waters executed a series of restructurings that enhanced the collateral.
In addition to charged properties, the lender took a company-wide floating charge over all Blue Waters assets.
Ranalo Foods further provided a corporate guarantee through a board resolution, effectively standing behind Blue Waters’ debt and exposing the restaurant company if the hotel defaulted. As part of the restructuring, Ranalo committed to channel funds into an escrow account dedicated to loan repayment.
Mr Osewe and his estranged wife also issued personal guarantees, putting their assets at risk if the sale proceeds fall short.
Mr Osewe previously told the court he had lined up management and branding deals with Dubai-based Aleph Hospitality and Marriott International, with hopes the Kisumu property would join the Protea Hotels by Marriott portfolio in 2022 — plans he argued would be imperilled by the auction.
Mr Osewe rose from humble beginnings hawking njugu karanga and mishikaki in Nairobi’s Kaloleni estate to build Ranalo (K’Osewe) into a celebrated brand known for Luo delicacies such as brown ugali and tilapia. But his business later ran into headwinds that he linked to a near-fatal shooting which left him incapacitated for more than three years, compounded by stringent Covid-19 restrictions that hit hospitality revenues.
In a previous interview with the Daily Nation, he said the shooter had an affair with his wife, a personal ordeal that overlapped with the growing financial strain.
KRA confirmed the March 25 agency notice was lifted in April, but the episode underscores the liquidity tightrope for Ranalo as lenders move to enforce on Blue Waters and other securities. The short-lived freeze, combined with auction notices and the shareholder suit, captures the multiple fronts on which Mr Osewe is now fighting —tax compliance, debt recovery and corporate control.
