Nicholas Biwott was one of the richest men in Kenya, when he died he bequeathed all of his property to his children but one of his daughters refused to inherit his billions.
Biwott died on July 11th 2017 after a long illness. It was reported that he passed on after complications arising from kidney failure.
The late powerful cabinet minister in President Moi’s government wrote his will on January 19th 2017, six months before he died.
In his will, Biwott bequeathed most of his property to his children. He listed only one of his three wives, Johanna, in the will – allowing the Dutch wife to keep any property that was co-owned or held in her name to be hers exclusively.
Biwott’s children include: Esther Koimett, Rhoda Jacobson, Rita Field Marshal, Klara Biwott, Gloria Biwott, Immanuel Biwott and Maria Biwott who are the sole heir to the Biwott estate.
Total Man, as he was famously known during his time in government, divided his vast estate equally among his children – each receiving a fourteenth of the wealth.
Rita Field-Marsham, Biwott’s daughter with his Dutch wife, however requested to be delisted from the list of beneficiaries to his late father’s inheritance.
Rita wrote a disclaimer letter to the court requesting to release all her rights, title and interest of the one fourteenth share allocated to her in her father’s will.
“I am named as a beneficiary of a share of the deceased’s estate. I wish to disclaim all my right, title and interest to the share in the deceased’s estate,” Rita’s affidavit read in part.
Rita Field-Marsham, a lawyer and humanitarian based in Canada did not give a reason for the request but she gave a condition that her share be divided among the others as per her father’s will.
But why did Rita refuse to inherit her father’s estate? Well it can be said it was because she had already built her own wealth.
Rita attended McGill University in Montreal, Canada for her undergraduate studies where she met her husband Charles Field-Marsham. They later got married and relocated to Kenya where they run their businesses.
She is a humanitarian lawyer who worked as a prosecuting counsel at the Attorney General’s Offices in Kenya.
Rita is also the founder of Field-Marsham Co. Advocates, was a member of the Commercial Law Committee of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), a member of the pro bono panel of the Women Lawyers in Kenya and a member of the pro bono panel of the High Court of Kenya and the Court of Appeal.
Biwott’s daughter is a philanthropist who acts as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of two charity organizations – Knowledge Empowering Youth (KEY) and Charles and Rita Field-Marsham Foundation. The foundations deal with projects that advance education and nurture healthy, inclusive communities.
Rita is also the director and co-sponsor of the Kenya Scholar Athlete Program (KenSPA) – an organization that airlifts bright disadvantaged Kenyans to prestigious Universities in US and Canada.
The program has since several Kenyan students enroll to acclaimed institutions of higher learning like Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Stanford, McGill and the University of Toronto.
Rita and her husband also co-own Kestrel Capital – a stock brokerage company based in Kenya with clients from US, Europe, South America, Asia, Middle East and Africa. The company was awarded by Euromoney Magazine as the ‘Best Stockbroker in Kenya.’
