Kenyan women allocate half of their pension benefits to their husbands, which is 11 per cent less than what their husbands allocate to them, a survey has found out.
The Attitude To Inheritance in Kenya report by Enwealth pension administrator, Strathmore University and Institute of Human Resource Management, found out that men allocate 61 per cent to their wives as beneficiaries of their pension.
Women who choose to nominate their sons or daughters as beneficiaries will allocate on average 54 per cent and 59 per cent respectively. On the other hand, men who choose to nominate their sons or daughters will allocate on average 42 per cent and 47 per cent respectively, the report showed.
The survey based on 429 complete responses also showed that 57 per cent of the respondents had nominated their spouses as beneficiaries to the fund, 41 per cent and 42 per cent have nominated their daughters and sons respectively.
The average percentage allocation to the spouses is 58 per cent, while the sons and daughters average allocation is 50 per cent.
As at June 2017, pension coverage among employed Kenyans hit 20 per cent up from 16.7 per cent in 2015 on the back of recruitment of more Kenyan workers to retirement savings plans. Data from the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) showed this represented over 3.2 million Kenyans covered with growth attributed to increased financial literacy by workers on the need to save for their retirement.
According to the research, nomination of beneficiaries is the preferred method for succession planning.
However, 60 per cent of Kenyans do not have a written will leading to increased cases of conflict and uncertainty relating to wealth distribution after death.
This is despite 80 per cent of Kenyans acknowledging the importance of having a will in place.
In Kenya up to 26.2 per cent of the conflicts in families are on succession matters according to 2018 report by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
According to advocate in commercial law Anne Agimba, the disputes are attributed to a lack of a written will and clear communication from the owner of the wealth regarding their intentions on distribution of properties.
“People are not protecting their property. In a month I receive three to four cases especially from women in their 50’s and 60‘s claiming property owned by deceased husbands or fathers... This is also spreading to the Muslim community,” Agimba said.
In February, a court ruling asserted that women are qualified to inherit properties of their fathers and should not be excluded in cases of distribution.
The study indicated that 46 of respondents need advice in financial planning, while 32 per cent indicated they require legal advice to put in place a succession plan for their property and wealth.
The wide gap between those who believe it’s better to have a written will and those who have a real written will is an indication people do not know how to write wills or use other ways to indicate their intentions, the report said.