Dr Rael Lubasi and late husband Mr Shadreck Mundia Lubasi during their wedding.
A Kenyan woman fighting for a share of properties left behind by her late Zambian husband has maintained that the former church minister was mentally incapacitated to sign a Will she has contested in court.
Dr Rael Lubasi said in a further response to a petition pending before the High Court in Zambia that her late husband Mr Shadreck Mundia Lubasi was terminally ill to sign the Will.
And to support her assertions, Dr Lubasi has attached a medical opinion dated September 16, 2024, by Dr Dan Gikonyo- a renowned cardiologist- stating that Mr Lubasi’s chronic heart ailment and repeated hospitalisations may have rendered him partially medically incapacitated at the time of signing the purported Will.
“I am further of the belief that my late husband was mentally incapacitated at the time of executing the purported Will, as evidenced by his failure to recognise that he was bequeathing gifts to our minor son that no longer existed as of 24th May, 2023 when the purported Will was executed,” Dr Lubasi said in the affidavit.
Dr Lubasi moved to the High Court in Zambia to contest the Will allegedly written by her late husband, about a month before his death.
She has questioned the validity of the Will allegedly written by Mr Lubasi, who died on June 23, last year in Zambia while undergoing treatment.
Dr Lubasi recalled that when she returned to Zambia on June 3, 2023, she visited her late husband in hospital and observed his memory loss as he was unable to recognise anyone, a condition that persisted until the day he died.
“That I am informed and of the firm belief on the basis of the information obtaining in my late husband’s medical report prepared by CfB Medical Centre and dated 6th September 2024 that he was not medically fit at the time he executed the purported Will,” she said.
According to the death certificate, Mr Lubasi died from cardiogenic shock leading to heart failure, a consequence of chronic heart failure, dilated cardiomyopathy, and renal impairment.
“In light of the aforementioned circumstances, I hold reservations regarding the validity of the entire Will,” she said.
She said she attempted through her advocates to obtain her late husband’s medical report from CfB Medical centre but that the said request was turned down by the hospital’s management.
“That I verily believe that the said Medical Report will be of significant use and importance for the determination of my application filed before this court,” she added.
The executors through their lawyers have maintained that Mr Lubasi was of sound mind when he made the Will.
The executors of the Will Mr Frank Kattundu and Sharon Lubasi Kattundu said in response filed in court that the will was drawn by Philsong & Partners and witnessed by Mr Allan Mufaya and Mr Chibona Kulumbekwa.
Dr Lubasi has contested the sharing of properties saying that despite her significant involvement in the acquisition of the assets, her contribution has been disregarded in the allocation of the assets to her son and her step-children.
She said they jointly owned motor vehicles and houses in Kenya. Mr Lubasi also owned a majority of shares in a company called Pace Insurance Brokers Ltd, in Lusaka.
Following his retirement from employment, Mr Lubasi moved to Zambia to run Pace Insurance Brokers and took their matrimonial car with him.
They sold a property they jointly owned in Kenya to purchase some rental properties in Zambia to generate income for their upkeep.
A Kenyan woman has moved to the High Court in Zambia to contest a Will allegedly written by her husband about a month before his death, when he was terminally ill.
In the will, Mr Lubasi appointed his Zambian son to the board of directors of the insurance brokerage firm and the chief executive officer.
“I verily believe that owing to my significant resource contribution that I made to the development of Pace Insurance Brokers Limited with the deceased during the subsistence of our marriage such as laptops and computers, mail hosting services and staff training in 2008 and a further cash sum of US$20,000 contribution made by the deceased and I in 2015 when the company was experiencing financial strain, my contribution should be recognised,” she said.
And as her husband’s surviving spouse, Dr Lubasi said she is entitled to a fair share of his ownership in Pace Insurance Brokers Limited.
Mr Lubasi’s shareholding in Pace Insurance brokers Ltd was bequeathed to his three children with his first wife, in equal shares and the shares have since been transferred to them.
The executors claim Mr Lubasi had properties in Nairobi which she has refused to disclose but she has dismissed the claims saying the only asset her husband left in Nairobi was their matrimonial home.
“I am of the firm belief that the handling of my late husband’s estate has not been transparent hence my declining to provide bank details to the Respondents. I needed to know how the funds in his account were distributed, bearing in mind that our son Mundia is a minor, while his siblings are middle-aged adults,” she said.
Mr Lubasi was the first managing director of ZEP-RE-PTA Reinsurance Company from 1992 to 2007. He was also the District Apostle for East Africa, New Apostolic Church from 2008 to 2015.
Dr Lubasi revealed that she discovered that the executors had obtained Letters of Administration from the High Court in Lusaka on July 11, 2023.
She is pursuing her interest and that of her son, a minor in the estate.
Dr Lubasi said in the documents that following her husband’s death, the executors of the Will displayed unwarranted bias and hostility towards her and her son.
She had to access her late husband in hospital through the intervention of the New Apostolic church Zambia, and management of CfB Medical Centre.
