Rita and Charles Field-Marsham. Ms Rita Field-Marsham, a lawyer and humanitarian based in Canada, has sworn a deed of disclaimer releasing her one-fourteenth of Mr Biwott’s estate. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
One of the daughters of former Cabinet minister Nicholas Biwott has declined inheritance from her late father, leaving a chunk of the empire for division to other beneficiaries.
Ms Rita Field-Marsham, a lawyer and humanitarian based in Canada, has sworn a deed of disclaimer releasing her one-fourteenth of Mr Biwott’s share that he gave her in a will he wrote on January 19, 2017, six months before he died.
Rita is one of the two daughters of Johanna, a woman of Dutch origin, who married Mr Biwott in 1965. Her sister is Rhoda Jakobsoon.
Rita and Rhoda were among seven children of Mr Biwott that would each receive a fourteenth of the wealth that will be up for distribution.
Rita did not give reasons for her turning down of the offer in her statement that she filed on December 18, 2017.
THREE EXECUTORS
“I am named as a beneficiary of a share of the deceased’s estate,” she stated. “I wish to disclaim all my right, title and interest to the share in the deceased’s estate.”
She, however, gave a condition that those distributing the wealth should handle her forfeited share as if it was part of her father’s estate if she was not a beneficiary.
Her father had noted in his will that if any of the beneficiaries does not take his or her share, “it shall be added to the other shares equally”.
The document left behind by the late Biwott — one of the most secretive public figures that Kenya has ever seen — has become public only recently.
Lawyer Hamish Keith, one of the three executors of the will alongside businesswoman Elizabeth Klem and advocate Desterio Oyatsi, told the Sunday Nation that the reason for releasing it was to debunk the exaggerated estimates of Mr Biwott’s wealth.
“It was decided to release Mr Biwott’s will to the public domain to hopefully quash some of the misinformed stories circulating about his estate,” said Mr Keith, a lawyer with Daly & Inamdar Advocates.
CIVIL WEDDING
He added: “Hopefully, in doing so, if there is any further comment on the subject, it will be based on the facts rather than mere speculation or gossip.”
The will, whose copy has been shown to us by the executors, reveals many interesting bits about the worldview of Mr Biwott, often called the Total Man.
It puts it in black and white that he had children by four women, but the only one with whom he held a civil wedding is Johanna, the woman from The Netherlands. Still, he distanced himself from any of her properties in the will.
“Any assets held in her name or held by any person upon trust for her are hers exclusively and neither I nor my estate have any interest or claim to any such assets,” he wrote.
He had met her while attending studies at Melbourne University in Australia. When they graduated, Johanna followed Mr Biwott to Kenya when he started his first posting as a District Officer in Meru, where she taught French and history at Embu Girls and later, Nkubu Boys.
Interestingly, only children will benefit from Biwott’s estate.
PROPERTY LEFT
Ms Esther Koimett, the Investment Secretary in the Finance ministry, benefitted by virtue of being the daughter of Elizabeth Kattar, who had a relationship with Mr Biwott in the 1960s.
Rhoda and Rita are next in the list by virtue of being daughters of Johanna the “official” wife, fondly called “Hannie”.
Next are Klara, Gloria and Emmanuel, children of Callista Mathews — a human resources manager at the agricultural equipment company Lima Limited.
The final one in the list of the children is Maria, a daughter from Biwott’s relationship with Prof Margaret Kamar, now the Uasin Gishu Senator.
Mr Biwott then stipulated that if any of his offspring that he had listed failed to take the inheritance, his or her children would be entitled to it. Mr Biwott appears to have planned for his death in advance, stating that anyone who “might be considered to be my dependants” had already been catered for.
CHARITY WORK
“Apart from the beneficiaries, there are other persons who I am advised might be considered to be my dependants ... I am not benefitting such persons in this my will because I have made generous gifts and provision for them during my lifetime, so I do not consider that they should benefit further under this my will,” he wrote.
He also left nothing to chance when he stated that his debts, trustees and professionals who handle his estate be paid from the property he left behind.
As a way of limiting succession disputes, the former ally of ex-president Daniel arap Moi also specified in his will that assets he co-owned with any other person should be transferred to the co-owner.
His death also brought to fore his philanthropic works that many people may not have known.
MBEGU TRUST
Reliable sources have informed the Sunday Nation that the wooden coffin in which he was buried was a donation from the National Fund for the Disabled of Kenya, an organisation he had co-founded with Prof Julia Ojiambo in 1981. The source said Mr Biwott had been discreetly supporting the organisation for more than 30 years and that the coffin was a “thank you” gift.
Then there is the Mbegu Trust, a pro-education organisation that will inherit Sh50 million of his wealth. The trust was established in 2008 by Mr Biwott and Johanna.
He also left Sh10 million to be used by the executors for the “maintenance and upkeep” of his grave and those of his father Kiprono Cheserem and mother Maria Soti, all buried beside each other, on their farm in Elgeyo-Marakwet.
No comments:
Post a Comment