• Observance in South Africa of National Wills Week inspired comparison with Kenya
This week I’m being morbid again, but in as positive a way as possible. I have found in my discussions with people, be they in Kenya or South Africa, that in general, folks do not like to think about death, especially their own. This is probably why many don’t write wills.
This failure to write wills, be it from superstition, a real fear that the beneficiaries may decide to hasten the process or the arrogance of believing they have plenty of time before it is necessary to write one, is a real problem and one that is not discussed enough.
I guess that for many people, it is almost as if the thought of drawing up a will is admitting to the fact that they are going to die. The fact of the matter is that death comes to us all, most of the time without notice. So it really is best to prepared.
It used to seem like only the wealthy fought over inheritance, but if you were paying attention over the years, you would have noticed that even ordinary families are fighting over property for lack of a legally binding will. All you have to do is read a newspaper regularly and you will see families torn apart by inheritance.
Of course, the human condition is such that even where there is a legal will, there are disputes over inheritance.
I got to thinking about wills following the observance in South Africa of National Wills Week. The national campaign, which is supported by the government and the Law Society of South Africa, among other stakeholders, ran from September 16 to 20.
Wills Week offers citizens engagement with legal practitioners and consultation opportunities.
During that week, across all nine provinces in the country, attorneys gather at selected community halls and other places where the public gathers, and offer free will-drafting services.
They also provide information sessions on estate planning and the significance of having a will by officers from the Master of the High Court.
In South Africa, the Master of the High Court is an office that was created to serve the public in respect of deceased estates, liquidations (insolvent estates), registration of trusts, tutors and curators, as well as administration of the Guardian's Fund, which looks after issues to do with minors and mentally challenged persons.
I am not aware of any such office in the Kenyan judiciary, but if there is an equivalent institution, it really ought to do more to make itself known to the public.
Speaking of which, I have been impressed by the work of the Law Society of Kenya, especially since the governance protests of June, in supporting abducted and arrested citizens in connection with these protests and other issues.
I would urge the LSK to explore the setting up of a similar initiative to add to the public resources they already offer on their website. I fed the website’s search engine with the terms “wills” and “inheritance” and nothing came up.
As an interested member of the public, I would suggest that they could incorporate educating the public about wills in their Legal Awareness Week programmes.
The other related failure I see in Kenya especially, is the lack of planning or thought around funeral expenses, and this despite the fact that funeral insurance has been available in Kenya for years.
In 2018, the Association of Kenya Insurers commissioned a survey, carried out by Ipsos Synovate, which discovered that only 3 per cent of Kenyans had funeral insurance cover. At that time, funeral costs ranged between Sh50,000 to Sh2.5 million.
Compare that paltry 3 per cent to 42 per cent of South African adults with funeral cover, according to a report by the FSCA (Financial Sector Conduct Authority).
I don’t know if there has been a more recent survey, but I am willing to bet that apart from the costs of funerals probably having risen since, the percentage of people with funeral cover has not risen significantly. This really needs to change and soon.