This archive report was first published on 20 September 2019.
Michelle Karume, the 26-year-old granddaughter of late Kenyan billionaire Njenga Karume, has tragically succumbed to cancer in the United States. The painful details of her struggle to access treatment due to a lack of funds have emerged.
According to reports, Michelle was one of the beneficiaries of her grandfather's multi-billion-shilling estate, which has been the subject of an ongoing dispute in court since his death in 2012.
Despite being a beneficiary of her grandfather's vast wealth, estimated to be around Sh17 billion, Michelle struggled to access treatment due to a lack of funds. In a letter written in March 2019, she pleaded with the Trustees of her grandfather's estate for assistance, stating that it had become unbearable to continue her treatment without medication.
'I kindly would like to know the way forward because it is such a terribly long time since I was on treatment, it is going to a year now,' she wrote in the letter.
Michelle's struggles to access treatment were well-documented, with her lawyer, Peter Munge, stating that she had to plead with the court on several instances to get funds for her treatment. 'On several instances, we had to push for a court order so that she could get funds for her treatment. At one time she addressed the court and broke down pleading for her life as funds were not forthcoming,' he said.
Family sources have revealed that the funds were finally sent to Michelle in May this year, but it was too late to manage the disease.
George Waireri, one of the Trustees of Karume's estate, has denied that Michelle's death was due to a lack of funds, stating that she was treated for over a year and that her death was a result of cancer.
