The Odinga family achieved a major victory after being granted control of Fidel Odinga’s estate (deceased).
This brings an end to a three-year legal battle between Fidel’s mother, Ida Odinga, and her daughter-in-law, Lwam Getachew Bekele.
Raila Odinga Junior has been appointed as the administrator of Fidel’s estate, according to a consent signed by Sagana Biriq and company and Rachier and Amollo advocates for Lwam and Idah, respectively. He will work alongside Lwam in this capacity.
Initially, administration rights were granted to Lwam and her brother Fahm Getachew Bekele in January 2019.
Junior’s name has now taken the place of Fahm’s.
“The grant of administration issued on January 9, 2019 be amended to reflect Lwam and Junior as the administrators of the estate,” read part of the consent.
Idah requested that the court revoke the administration letters granted to Lwam and her brother Fahm and instead grant her control over Fidel’s estate.
She claimed that the grant to Lwam was made in error and that it unjustifiably excluded other interested parties from the deceased’s estate.
She accused Lwam of neglecting the twins Fidel had with another woman, Phoebe Akinyi.
Fidel’s estate is estimated to be worth Sh40 million. His mother and sister Winnie had listed ten properties and bank accounts that they claimed he owned.
Fidel’s home in Tipuana Park, house number six in Karen, three parcels of land; two in Kisumu and one in Kajiado, and 250 shares in both Axum Investments Limited and Ambesa Investments Limited are among the properties.
According to the agreement signed on February 16, 2022, Fidel’s home on Bogani Road in Karen was given to Lwam. So was one of the lands in Kisumu and another in Kajiado.
The other parcel of land in Kisumu was given to Lwam to hold in trust for Fidel’s son.
The same will also apply to a Nissan Sunny and a KBS Range Rover, the 250 shares each in Asum and Ambesa Investments limited, monies held in two accounts at gulf African bank, Diamond trust bank, standard chartered (Kenyatta Avenue branch), CFC Stanbic bank (Chiromo branch) African banking corporation (industrial area branch) and Gulf African bank, (Upper hill branch). They will all be held in trust by Lwam for the minor.
Fidel, 41, was found dead on January 4, 2015, after a night out with friends.
Lwam said in court papers seen by the Star that a statement by Ida to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations detectives on Fidel’s death was at the heart of the fallout between them.
Ida claimed in the statement that her son’s death remains a mystery.
“That even though the death of the deceased remained a mystery and efforts were made to establish what suddenly transpired, the petitioners herein, kept off from the family,” Ida and Winnie said in a joint affidavit.
They went on; “It remains unclear why the petitioner hastily ran away and kept off the family, whereas, there have been various efforts to establish contacts.”
