Bob Collymore's succession dispute

The disagreement over how to divide former Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore's sizable fortune has been resolved. This came about after his wife and the kids he had from a previous marriage reached an understanding.

Collymore lost his fight with cancer on July 1, 2019, at his home in Kitisuru, Nairobi.

James and Sarah, from a previous marriage to Claire-Bishop Collymore, were two of his children.

He was married to Wambui Kamiru at the time of his death. Collymore left two wills behind. The first was dated January 13, 2018, and the second, April 18, 2018, was for his holdings in Kenya. Both were for his land in the UK. On September 23, the parties entered their consent in writing and produced a mediation agreement that was dated July 15 of 2022 but was not made public. Justice Maureen Odero's court-adopted consent said the following:

“By mutual consent of all the disputants in this matter, all the applications in court concerning the matter under reference are removed by the act of signing this mediation agreement and the matter should be marked settled in the court records with effect from the date of this agreement.”

Prior to the matter being resolved, Wambui and Claire fought bitterly in court over Collymore's assets. Bob's ex-wife Claire argued that the court should revoke Wambui's authority to manage the Collymore estate on July 28 of last year. She said that Wambui had misrepresented and failed to provide accurate records of the decedent's assets, including bank accounts and statements. These, according to her, were essential in assisting the court with deciding how Collymore's estate should be divided.

Claire stated in court records this year that she had not received any money from the decedent's estate since his passing in July 2019 for the maintenance of their daughter, despite the UK will's instructions.

“It is untrue that I have received any child maintenance for our daughter since her father’s death as asserted by Wambui despite many requests to do so,” the court heard.

She stated that the stepfather's pension primarily covered their girls' costs, and that as of March 17, there was still about Sh9 million in unpaid child support. She asserts that Collymore had assured her there would be enough money for them when he passed away. Additionally, their son James filed an affidavit to have Wambui removed as administrator on the grounds that she might have tampered with his father's UK assets, resulting in the mixing of the estates in Kenya.

Wambui, however, maintained that no proof was presented to support the cancellation and that the right to manage the land was legitimately gained. She added that the deceased left a complete bequest in his UK will for his dependents.

Under the UK will, James received 345 000 pounds, or Sh53 million. The daughter will get Sh77,000,000. The funds are kept in trust for her and are used to meet her needs.

“There is therefore no basis in law or facty to revoke the grant issued by this court," he said.

She also refuted allegations that Claire did not receive money for their daughter's upkeep. Wambui also revealed that the UK will is now being maintained by fiduciary services provider Zedra UK and that she is no longer a trustee on the document.

Collymore disclosed in 2015 that he owned assets totaling Sh277.3 million, which were distributed across cash, real estate, cars, and stock in several different companies.