Otieno Ambala estate handed over to his children 25 years after his death

By EVELYN KWAMBOKA

Prominent personalities who bought properties in the late former Gem MP Aggrey Otieno Ambala’s multi-million shilling estate may be headed for a legal battle.

The court declared the purchases a nullity and ordered three newly appointed administrators to exercise their powers to recover capital assets illegally disposed off to third parties, through civil litigation.

It ordered that all the capital estate property to revert back to the estate in its original form as at the time Ambala died on June 8, 1985.

The personalities include MPs, lawyers and businessmen, who bought some of the assets, which are part of the legal battle that has seen the late MP’s 11 children in and out of the corridors of justice for more than 24 years.

The High Court stamped its authority in the inheritance matter and declared that it would supervise the administrators of the estate for the MP, who died while in remand at the Kodiaga Prison following his arrest over the murder of former MP Horrace Ongili Owiti.

Three administrators

The court did this on grounds that some of the beneficiaries had been left out in the distribution of the estate.

 The property includes 30 acres of land in Nairobi’s posh Karen area, land in Muhoroni and Siaya, ten houses in Siaya’s Ambala estate, 12 flats in Nairobi’s West View apartment, a plot on Turbo Road in Nairobi, and a house on Obote Road in Kisumu.

The MP is also listed as a shareholder of multi-million shilling companies such as Kenya Breweries, Bamburi Portland Cement (Ltd), National Credit East Africa, Homalime, Navarashi Wholesalers, Timbwalo Sawmills Ltd, two hardware shop in Kisumu, and another in Yala.

Ambala owned one of the biggest petrol stations in Kisumu and the list in court does not cover bank accounts and fleets of cars he was associated with.

He left children from his three wives – the late Perez, Beryl, and Nancy – fighting for their rights to inherit a share of his empire.

In her 85-page landmark judgement, Kisumu High Court Judge, Justice Roselyne Nambuye, said that what was disposed off from the estate using an alleged first grant issued to four administrators is null and void.

“There is no mandate for a temporary grant holder to dispose off capital assets before confirmation of the grant. What is mandated to be disposed off is the income generated from the estate. It follows that all that was disposed off by the said first grant holders as capital assets is null and void,” she said.

Judge Nambuye gave the new administrators powers to conduct searches on the position of all capital assets of the estate and file the findings in court.She appointed three administrators who comprise a child from each wife to distribute the estate. They will also be required to file reports quarterly until the estate is wound up.

The judge pointed out that Ambala’s wives – Beryl and Nancy – will not inherit anything from the state to be divided among the children for reasons given in the assessment.

“By their conduct in failing to pursue their claim, they have become disentitled as beneficiaries,” she said.

However, only their children will get a share of Ambala’s estate that is to be divided as per the court order.The two women’s children will share half of the estate as the remaining half goes to the first wife’s children.

The judge divided the property after discarding a purported will of the late MP.  He allegedly gave preferential treatment to the first wife’s children.

It is consent on division of the estate based on the said will, that led to beneficiaries who had been left out to move to court. The consent filed at the High Court registry only gave consideration to the late Perez’s children on the issue touching on 15 acres in Karen.

Nancy’s only son Marvin Opiyo sought the court’s intervention on distribution of the estate; on grounds all beneficiaries were part of that consent. He claimed the original administrators had been overlooked in the deal, adding that the rightful administrators had not filed an application for confirmation or distribution of his father’s estate.

Although he knew very little about his father, Marvin, who was young when the former MP died, said he is sure Ambala would have wished his children to share the property equitably.

In her affidavit, Beryl stated that she married Ambala after his first wife’s death, but got divorced. They had two daughters – Perez and Chizi – whom she took with her to Zimbabwe in 1981. She said that any request for support from her late husband’s estate was met with hostility and has never been consulted concerning the properties or consented to any transactions.

Beryl said her daughter has never received her inheritance or instructed any lawyer to enter consent on her behalf, adding that she supported the case filed by her stepbrother because if the estate is left in the state it is in, the acrimony and hatreds will persist. She added that this would result in further wastage.

The first wife’s son Havi Odhiambo swore an affidavit that his parents acquired the estate before his mother died in June 1979, and did not acquire any more properties.

It was his evidence that Ambala married Beryl and during the subsistence marriage, he cohabited with Nancy illegally and the union had four children.

Odhiambo claimed his father left a will when he died in 1985 and it did not include Nancy’s children but he sat down with his brothers and the made a provision for them. He said that is how their mother ended up becoming one of the first administrators of the estate, together with his two brothers and uncles.