Inside Ex-CBK boss Phillip Ndegwa’s Will

Former Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Phillip Ndegwa gave a portion of his wealth to his in-laws, step-mother and step-siblings.

Ndegwa decreed his in-laws, who included Mr and Mrs Robert Angus Stewart in the USA inherited Sh1.2 million paid in dollars.

In his Will, he gave his step-mother Mwa-Mutugi and half-sister Wangechi Kangangi Sh100,000 each and half-brother Harrison Mwai Mutuku Sh200,000.

He bequeathed his wife Alison Mary Ndegwa and children — James Phillip Maina Ndegwa, Leslie Ruth Wakini Ndegwa and Andrew Stewart Mwangi Ndegwa — the bulk of his wealth and named them trustees of his estate.

Ndegwa wrote his Will on June 16, 1987, and it was only revealed to his family three months after he died on January 6, 1996.

According to court documents, the former CBK boss was at the time of his death a multi-millionaire.

His balance at the bank was Sh57 million while he held shares of various companies worth Sh9.4 million.

His motor vehicles were estimated to cost Sh3.1 million while his personal effects were worth Sh1 million.

In total, his family told court the patriarch had left them wealth worth Sh116 million and had no liability during his lifetime.

Ndegwa attended Alliance High School and Makerere University. While at the Uganda-based university, he lectured economics. He later joined Harvard University, before joining the government in 1965 as an economics and planning advisor.

His two sisters, Ester Wangu Kariuki and Lydiah Njoki Wachira, inherited Sh350,000.

Ndegwa’s brother John Mutugi Mutuku got Sh250,000 while his half-brother Harrison Mwai got Sh200,000.

According to Ndegwa, Mwai’s wife and children would get Sh125,000 from his share.

Although Ndegwa did not explain how he was related to Johnson Giruma Ndegwa, he left him Sh150,000 while his cousin was bequeathed Sh25,000.

“I give my said wife Alison Mary Ndegwa and my three children in equal shares all articled of personal, domestic household and garden use or ornament not otherwise specifically disposed of by this Will,” Ndegwa wrote.

Maina got a land in Njoro. However, he would have to leave it to Wakini or Mwangi in equal shares in the event he died before his father.

He decreed that Alison and his three children would divide in equal shares LR No INOI/NDIMI/220 while Mutuku would get a portion of what would remain after the subdivision. It is at this property that he was buried.

The patriarch never mentioned anything about his shares or even any other investment he had done in his lifetime in the Will.

His wife was to get all his bank money in the event she survived him. In the event she was not in the picture, trustees ought to have managed the money to benefit Ndegwa’s children until they attained 21 years. She also got a land LR No 209/3097 in Nairobi.

Ndegwa decided to leave two prime land in Nairobi and Nyali under his firm P&A Enterprises Limited, which he also envisioned to manage all his debentures.

All his three children got 25 shares each while his wife got 15.
He became the second governor of Central Bank of Kenya after Duncan Ndegwa in 1982. He had stints as chair of Kenya Commercial Bank, the National Bank of Kenya and Kenya Airways.

In a bid to secure his legacy, Ndegwa declared that the trustees, who were his wife and children, would time to time invest his money the way they deemed fit and would vary the investment if they wished to.

His shares are said to have been Sh9 million, while immovable assets were estimated at Sh46 million.