Here are qualities of an ideal trustee of a Will

NAIROBI: In recent years, Kenyans have increasingly been treated to unsavoury family contests over multi-billion shilling business empires, more so upon the departure of the main benefactors or patriarchs.

Some of the wrangles that have been paraded out in the noonday sun for all to see, particularly by Kenya’s glitterati—the rich and famous—are unfortunate in the extreme.

The flipside of this unfortunate trend, however, has a silver lining worth taking note of. And this is the fact that more and more Kenyans, particularly fathers, are leaving behind detailed wills that state their wishes and apportion their earthly belongings to appointed beneficiaries upon their demise.

Ideally, at the centre of any serious will is trust itself, or a trust as in law. And with a trust comes trustees, in some instances referred to as executors.

A Will, meanwhile is a solemn document, in fact, a covenant of sorts whose potency and relevance hinges entirely on the fidelity of its execution. This then means a Will is only as good as its executors.

Which now brings me to the big question: Who qualifies to be a trustee, or, in other words, who is the ideal trustee? Before we attempt to figure out who fits the bill of an ideal trustee, let us first interrogate the notion itself. Both words ‘trust’ and ‘trustee’ are derived from the term ‘trust’.

This word traces its origins to Middle English. It generally meant ‘strong’. Underlying all else that a trust must therefore be is strength and therefore reliability. Strength, in this context, I would imagine, can only refer to dependability.

A trustee chosen to execute a Will of a deceased person must therefore pass the test of dependability, which can only best manifest in the sturdy choices and resolve he or she would make in tandem with the wishes of the author of the Will.

The dependability is ever so more critical because departed persons have no chance to participate in ensuring their wishes and aspirations are met as they would have them be.

Unquestionable fidelity and good judgment on the part of the executor of a Will is, therefore, a basic minimum requirement of any trustee worth his or her name.

A trustee is entrusted with the wish of another person for the benefit of others. This in itself is an honour; a recognition that presupposes the highest levels of rectitude on the part of the chosen one. In essence, a trustee is a servant of others. He or she must play down personal interest to serve as a trustee. Anyone in such a privileged position who lets the selfish instincts override the good meant to be conferred on the beneficiaries of a Will automatically disqualifies him or herself from being a trustee in the real sense of trusteeship.

When we talk of someone occupying the high moral ground we mean that one is elevated to venerated status, which ought to be the envy or aspiration of others. Of course in such occupancy, humility and total fidelity to the wishes of the departed one separate the worthy from the unworthy.

In fact, a trustee is qualified to his or her honourable place by his or her content of character, more than anything else.

A trustee, by the very nature of his or her appointment, cannot be seen to compete with the beneficiaries targeted in the Will.

If anything, the duty of a trustee is to ensure fairness and complete impartiality become the hallmark of his or her services in honour of the wishes of the author of the Will.

Similarly, it is outright wrong for a trustee to superimpose upon the beneficiaries conditions that go contrary to the spirit of the Will itself or that negate the wisdom of the discretion contained therein. In a word, therefore, the beneficiary and the wishes of the author of the Will are the centerpiece of any trusteeship.

In a country of people whose senses are easily overtaken by the glamour of affluence, it is not difficult to encounter a hyena whose understanding of how to execute a Will is captive to the usual greed that fuels corrupt conduct.

While focusing attention on the execution of wills, it is advisable that beneficiaries of the estates of the privileged learn to wash their dirty linen indoors.

Some of the departed persons whose children and wives take on each other over inheritance hardly show any regard for the legacies their benefactors are known for. They too should have no business fighting over that which they technically do not deserve.

The writer is Programmes Officer, North Eastern Pastoralist Forum, Garissa

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