The state has taken over assets of former powerful individuals during the era of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta over family wrangles that have rendered them idle.
Mbiyu Koinange, James Kanyotu, and JM Kariuki’s families were the most affected as the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) sized their dividends and shares following family feuds that have frozen the sharing of their properties.
Barclays Bank and the Middles East Bank surrendered shares and dividends that belonged to Kanyotu, who was Kenya’s spy chief for 27 years during the Kenyatta and Moi’s administrations.
The state also received BAT shares of undisclosed value that belonged to the late JM, a one-time minister in Kenyatta’s government.
Business Daily reported that the families have for decades been embroiled in inheritance battles that have denied them a valid will or letters of administration required to gain authority over assets.
“All we require from the claimants is a valid will or letters of administration in the absence of the will,” said a source at the State agency who sought anonymity.
He added that families locked in succession fights tend to lack the two documents which are crucial to gain control over the deceased’s assets.
Kanyotu's family has over Ksh20 billion worth of assets withheld as the court is yet to determine how his property will be shared 11 years after his death.
In Koinange’s family, his four wives and their children have been in and out of court for decades since his death on September 2, 1981, over control of his Ksh10 billion property.
Sibling rivalry erupted after JM’s wife was appointed to be the administrator to his property following his death in September 1975, accusing her of hurting interests of her two co-wives and eight children.
