Summary
- Records at Ufaa, which holds unclaimed assets in trust for the rightful owners, show that the EABL shares were transferred to it last year.
- The Obama life insurance of Sh55, 933 came to Ufaa’s custody in 2014 from the defunct Kenya National Assurance Corporation (KNAC).
- Following Mr Obama’s death, a fierce legal battle ensued over his estate, then estimated to have been worth Sh410,500
More properties belonging to Barack
Hussein Obama, the father of the former US president, have been
transferred to the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (Ufaa).
The authority, established in
2013, is holding East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL) shares of
undisclosed value belonging to the family of Obama Senior — a former
senior economic analyst at the Treasury who died in a car accident in
1982.
Records at Ufaa, which holds unclaimed assets in
trust for the rightful owners, show that the EABL shares were
transferred to it last year.
The agency has over the
past two years been holding a life insurance cover that was never paid
to Mr Obama’s beneficiaries upon his death, resulting in the transfer of
the funds to the government.
The Obama life insurance
of Sh55, 933 came to Ufaa’s custody in 2014 from the defunct Kenya
National Assurance Corporation (KNAC).
Rightful owners
“We received more of Obama Senior’s assets. We are
still waiting for the family to contact us for release of the benefits,”
Kellen Kariuki, the chief executive officer of Ufaa, told the Business Daily in an interview Tuesday.
“The
assets must be handed over to the rightful owners. The primary
responsibility for assets reunification with the beneficiaries remains
with the holder (companies like EABL),” she added.
Mr Obama had nominated his eldest son Roy Obama, also called Malik, and his youngest wife, Jael Otieno, as beneficiaries.
Obama Senior had four wives, two of whom he married while in the United States, and eight children.
Among
the children is the former American president, from his marriage with
Ann Dunham, whom he met while studying at the University of Hawaii in
the US.
Following Mr Obama’s death, a fierce legal battle ensued over his estate, then estimated to have been worth Sh410,500.
The battle was mainly between his then former wife Kezia Obama and Jael.
Ms Kezia was the first wife and mother of Roy.
Ms Kezia was the first wife and mother of Roy.
Defined period
Ufaa
holds in trust cash held by companies for a defined period without any
activity from the owner. It has been taking over unclaimed assets since
2014.
The list of assets classified as unclaimed
includes bank accounts that have been dormant for more than five years,
bankers cheques not cashed for two years and contents in safe deposit
boxes unclaimed for more than two years.
Matured life
insurance policies unclaimed for more than two years and shares whose
dividends have not been collected for more than three years also qualify
to be handed over to the agency.
The State-owned KNAC, which was put under receivership in 1996, handed over Sh348 million to the authority.
It is not clear why the corporation was not able to pay Obama senior’s beneficiaries given their prominence.
It
is the responsibility of the holding company to search for the rightful
owners of an asset before declaring it as unclaimed and forwarding it
to the agency.
Most
of the unclaimed assets are attributed to failure by the deceased to
inform the beneficiaries of the asset and the absence of a will stating
the same.
Obama Senior died at the age of 46 at a time
when he is said to have been struggling with poverty having lost both
his legs in two previous car accidents.
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