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10 things to know about Yvonne Wamalwa

By HILARY KIMUYU January 25th, 2018 2 min read

Yvonne Nambia Wamalwa, the widow of former Vice President Michael Wamalwa Kijana, who died on Thursday lost her husband just months after their wedding.

The colorful wedding in 2003 was attended by the then President Mwai Kibaki and the First Lady the late Lucy Kibaki.

Here are 10 things to know about the late Yvonne Wamalwa.

1. The second born in a family of four – three girls and one boy – Yvonne grew up in Parklands, Nairobi, then moved to Kileleshwa.

2. Yvonne attended City Primary School and Cardinal Otunga Girls High School in Bungoma.

3. She went to Kenya Polytechnic, and then moved to West London College where she studied Hotel Management and Tourism in 1994.

4. She came to the limelight in 2002 when her husband, the late Michael Kijana Wamalwa was appointed Vice President in the Narc government.

5. She got married  to the then Vice President Michael Wamalwa at a lavish wedding in May 2003. She was 34 at the time while the groom was 60 years old. The wedding took place six months before Wamalwa’s death, leaving her with a young daughter.

6. In 2003, while her husband was undergoing treatment at Royal Free Hospital in London, Yvonne is alleged to have taken Sh3.4 million that was in his briefcase and later pocketed Sh8 million she had received from her husband’s pension scheme on behalf of his two sons who were minors by then.

7. Following her husband’s death, Yvonne was appointed the Deputy Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations Habitat offices in Nairobi by former president Mwai Kibaki. She was later served as Kenya’s Deputy High Commissioner to Australia. Her appointment to a diplomatic position in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, was revoked by Principal Secretary Monica Juma.

8. Yvonne had a long running court battle with her two stepsons William Samuel and William Wamalwa Jr, who claimed she has failed to account for Sh3.4 million that was in their father’s briefcase at the time of his death and Sh36.7 million released by Parliament as his pension.

9. In 2017 Justice GBM Kariuki ordered Yvonne  to account for Sh36.7 million she received from Parliament, Sh3.4 million that was in her husband’s briefcase when he died in London, proceeds of maize harvested from 300 acres in Kitale and Sh8 million she had received from his pension on behalf of the two children.

10. She went back to school and in graduated with a degree in Terrorism, Counter Terrorism and Extremism at the Murdoch University between 2008 and 2011. She also attained her Masters in Policing, Terrorism, Counter terrorism and International Security at the Macquarie University in Australia.