AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE High Court, Musoma District Registry, has ordered the Police to arrest, investigate and prosecute three family members from the late, Chief Makongoro Matutu of Ikizu ethnic group, for allegedly misappropriating his wealth and proceeds of administration of estates.
Judge John Kahyoza gave such order recently after determining an application for revision on the appointment of such three family members, Megamba Makongoro, Adam Makongoro and Mwasumu Makongoro, as administrators of estates of the deceased.
“I order the police to arrest administrators, investigate and charge them for misappropriation of deceased’s estate for failure to account. The police will report to the Deputy Registrar as to the status of the charges against the administrators,” the judge directed.
He had directed the administrators to account for the proceeds they collected from the estate and file their report on December 15, 2020, but they neglected to do so. On December 18, 2020, he called upon them to explain why they did not file the statement of accounts.
“(Mwasumu) challenged this Court’s power to require them to account. (Megamba) requested for two more days to file the report. The administrators have no intention to account or they thought it is business as usual,” the judge noted.
Judge Kahyoza further directed the deceased’s estate shall be managed as it used to be before Megamba Makongoro and Adam Makongoro craftily applied and appointed to administer the estate before they were joined by Mwasumu Makongoro in the administrators’ wagon.
According to him, there was a committee selected by the late Chief Makongoro’s family members, who had bank account operated at CRDB Bank.
The judge, therefore, ordered the rent collected from the deceased’s house at Musoma be deposited into such bank account.
“The family of the late Chief Makongoro Matatu will spend the amount collected as per their decision through the committee until that time it decides otherwise. The signatories will be regulated by the bank’s policy,” he said. Chief Makongoro Matutu died intestate on September 25, 1958.
The Chief was survived by 47 wives and 120 children. He left behind an estimated 150 acres or hectares of farm land, a house, or houses at Ikizu, his palace and a house at Musoma, a source of all troubles.
At first, the Chief’s family members were orderly and administered the deceased’s estate through a committee.
The Royal Members appointed the members of the committee. They often replaced them after a period or if they misbehaved.
The deceased’s estate was administered informally with less noise from 1958 until 2014. There were misunderstanding and mismanagement, which would be expected from such a big family.
In 2014, more problems, chaos, complaints and mismanagement regarding the administration of the Chiefs estate heightened after two members of the royal family, Megamba and Adam cannily obtained letters of administration of the late Chief Makongoro Matatu’s estate.
When determining the application recently, the judge observed that the pivot of the dispute is the house located at Musoma, generates income by way of rent and the administrators collect rent from tenants and apply as they wish.
He said that it was beyond dispute the administrators collected rent in 2020 and misappropriated it and could not distributed a single coin to the heirs.
“They collected rent in January and June, 2020. Thus, the administrators are bound to account and failure to account is criminal offence under section 314 of the Penal Code,” the judge said.
He added, “I wish to remind the administrators that one of their duties was to file an inventory in Form V within four months from the date of appointment. That is a legal duty.”
Judge Kahyoza said further that the administrators in the instant case were dillydallying to discharge their duties and that the primary court nominated them improperly and they behaved as if there was no time limit for the administration of the deceased’s estate.
“The administrator’s conduct was unwelcome and beyond the spirit of the law. They have to account for assets and funds they collected from the deceased’s estate,” he said.
The judge also pointed out that it was not only that Megamba Makongoro and Adam Makongoro were improperly appointed, they flopped the procedures but also, they are not trustworthy.
“They fabricated minutes of the family meeting to indicate that (they were) appointed to administer the deceased’s estate. Megamba and Adam’s act of manufacturing minutes of the family meeting disqualified them from administrating the deceased’s estate,” he said.
The appointment of Mwasumu Makongoro, Judge Kahyoza said, did not prevent Megamba Makongoro and Adam Makongoro from their impregnated intention of misappropriating the deceased’s estate, as they easily converted her.
“She fell into a prey. She now sings Megamba Makongoro and Adam Makongoro’s song. I guess she said to herself, if you can’t win them join them,” the judge said.
He further scrutinized the record and found that Megamba Makongoro and Adam Makongoro gave false information as to the deceased’s wives and children, an indication which shows that they were not faithful.
