Court Orders Joseph Kamotho's Family to Agree on How to Share His Sh250 Million Wealth

The High Court has given the family of the late former Cabinet minister Joseph Kamotho until the end of November to agree on how to distribute his multi-million-shilling estate.

On Wednesday, the family told Justice Stephen Riechi that they failed to agree on the mode of distribution of the property estimated to be worth over Sh250 million.

The judge directed the parties to file their preferred mode of distributing the properties and the list of beneficiaries by November 30th. The family will appear before the judge on February 20th for directions.

Kamotho, who died while undergoing treatment in a hospital in South Africa on December 6th, 2014, left his widow Eunice Wambui Kamotho and four children, Charles Githii Kamotho, James Mwai Kamotho, Marianne Nyokabi Kamotho and David Waweru Kamotho.

The widow sought letters to administer the estate but some of her children filed objections and the case has been pending in court since 2017. The mother, her son Charles and Marianne were appointed the administrators of the estate. 

In July, the court allowed the widow to sell the family’s Sh82 million Nairobi house to raise money for her upkeep and medical expenses but her children Marianne and David opposed the sale, arguing that their mother receives substantial rent and pension from the government, where their father had been a minister.

While allowing the sale of the house, Justice Aggrey Muchelule ordered that half of the sale proceeds be shared equally among the four children of the late politician while the other half goes to their mother. The judge further said the provisions will not be taken into account when distributing the rest of the estate.

While seeking consent to sell the house, Mrs. Kamotho also said she wanted to use the proceeds to settle security and utility bills and to buy a specialized vehicle for Sh2.7 million. She said she needs the vehicle because she is sickly and confined to a wheelchair.

The judge threw out the objections raised by two of the children, who argued that the estate was being intermeddled with and they wanted the widow to account to the beneficiaries.

The property left behind by the deceased includes five parcels of land in Gacharage, Murang’a, land in Kakuzi Murang’a, and a matrimonial home in Nairobi’s Kitisuru area. He also had shares in Safaricom, KenGen, Britam, Barclays, Sameer Africa, and had a bank account at Standard Bank.