Raila Odinga’s family has ended a bitter fight over the multi-million property that was left behind by the late Fidel Odinga. Raila’s family ended the fight after allowing Fidel’s widow Lwam Getachew to be the administrator of the estate.
The estate that will now be under Lwam and her son include three properties that include a villa located in Karen. Lwam will also hold cash in 8 bank accounts, cars, a plot in Kisumu, and investment firms in trust for Fidel’s son.
According to the settlement, Ms. Lwam will not be allowed to sell any of the properties. Any income she gets from the properties will only be used for the benefit of Fidel’s son. The out of court agreement additionally shows that Fidel’s brother, Raila Junior has also been made a joint administrator.
This now brings to an end a property dispute that had seen Raila’s wife Ida Odinga take Ms. Lwam to court over the property left behind by her late son, Fidel.
Ida had accused Lwam of sidelining twins Fidel had sired with another woman.
“The said grant was issued erroneously, as it unjustifiably locked out other interested parties from the estate of the deceased, his other children, his mother and sister respectively. The proposed administrators cannot be entrusted alone to faithfully administer according to the law the estate of the deceased and render a true and just account of such estate.”
At one point, a report in local media in 2019 reported Mama Ida as having gone to the extent of accusing Lwam of ‘masterminding the death of her son’. In statements to detectives that were captured in court documents, Ida had alleged that Ms. Lwam was behind the mysterious death of Fidel, their firstborn, in January 2015.
Mama Ida had further told the court that Lwam had deliberately and maliciously provided erroneous, incomplete and non-existent bank account details in an attempt not to be held accountable, and failed to fully declare and give an accurate account of Fidel’s properties.
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Lwam, on her part, had said that Ida had been making “false and unkind” remarks about her in connection to the sudden death of her husband.
Fidel and Lwam lived in Tipuana Park in Karen Nairobi. Family records show Fidel had 10 properties and seven bank accounts. The properties include the Tipuana Park house, two parcels of land in Kisumu and one in Kajiado, shares in two companies – Axum Investments Ltd and Ambesa Investments Ltd.
It also emerged that Fidel held one account each at Diamond Trust Bank, Stanchart, Stanbic, ABC Bank and three accounts at Gulf Bank. Fidel also owned four cars – two Range Rovers, a Nissan Sunny, and a Mercedes Benz.
The death of Fidel in 2015 has since remained a mystery. His body was discovered in his Karen house on a Sunday morning after spending Saturday afternoon and evening with friends before being driven home by a taxi.
At around 6.30am, Lwam said she went to check on her husband only to discover his lifeless body. She then called her mother-in-law, Ida.
