Yvonne to account for ‘spending’

Former VP Michael Wamalwa’s widow Yvonne. The court has ordered her to explain how she spent the husband’s property. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

 

By PAMELA CHEPKEMEI

KENYA: The widow of former Vice-President Michael Wamalwa has 45 days to give an account of how she used millions of shillings received on behalf of her husband’s estate, a court has ordered.

The judge who issued the orders said Kenyans should be encouraged to write wills in their lifetime to avoid distribution of their property through the courts.

The cash to be accounted for by Yvonne Wamalwa includes money in the late Wamalwa’s briefcase at the hospital before he died and Sh10 million paid out through a law firm to clear debts of the former VP’s estate.

The trial judge, G B M Kariuki, said Wamalwa seems to have had actual cash amounting to Sh3.4 million while in hospital and criticised the widow for not properly managing the estate of her late husband in the interest of his children. “The manner in which provision has been made to the dependants leaves a lot to be desired.”

The children left behind by Wamalwa are still in school and require support from the estate but which must be done in a transparent manner and above board, he added.

The amounts

The judge allowed an application by the stepchildren of Yvonne to have her produce an account of all the money she received.

“Yvonne shall file in this court a statement giving a full account of monies received by her on the account of the estate of her late husband,” he ordered.

Yvonne, an envoy in Kenya’s Embassy in Australia, is also required to account for Sh36.7 million received as gratuity for her late husband.

The former VP died while undergoing treatment on August 23, 2003.

One of his eldest children Lilian Muthoni Wamalwa filed the case in court accusing the stepmother of sidelining her in the management of the estate. She told the court Yvonne had failed to release cash she held in trust of Wamalwa’s two children.

Muthoni sought orders compelling her stepmother to account for all the money received on behalf of the late VP’s estate.

Farm proceeds

The children, through lawyer Lilian Machio, told the court that at the time Wamalwa died, he had Sh3.4 million in a brief case but their stepmother took the cash away.

The widow will also account for the money received on behalf of two step children who were minors then, William Samuel Wamalwa and William Junior Wamalwa from the gratuity cash and the proceeds of sale of maize harvested from 300 acres in Kitale.

Machio had asked the court to order her to account for Sh8 million she allegedly received on behalf of the two children. The lawyer said there was an agreement Samuel and his brother would be paid Sh4 million each. The two told the court they never received their share.

The three children complained they were unable to pay their school fees because Yvonne was in control of the money.

Acted outside law

Yvonne and Muthoni were in 2005 given a limited grant to manage the estate.

The judge also castigated the widow for distributing the gratuity she received from the Government when the court had not given her the full powers to administer the estate. He said the division of the funds among the beneficiaries was in violation of the Law of Succession.

Justice Kariuki said Yvonne dealt with the estate as one would with personal property, adding that she had unknowingly or knowingly breached the provisions of the Law of Succession in how she handled the property.

The widow had told the court through her lawyer, Albert Khaminwa that she had purchased apartments from the funds and taken as mortgages. She said she paid out living expenses and tuition fees for the beneficiaries.

Muthoni filed the case on April 30, last year, accusing her stepmother of mismanaging the estate.