Former President Mwai Kibaki
By Our Reporter
Worth Noting:
- The collapsed mediation was being conducted by a court-appointed mediator Reverend Geoffrey Njenga. The parties held two mediation meetings on October 6 and 14, 2022. They were unable to reach an agreement in relation to the DNA testing and recognition of Ms JNL and Mr Ocholla as Kibaki’s children.
- In their application Mr Ocholla and Ms JNL are asking the court to order for the sibling DNA test involving them and Kibaki’s children, Wanjiku, James Mark Kibaki, David Kagai Kibaki and Anthony Andrew Githinji Kibaki so that it can scientifically be known be whether they are his children.
- In the alternative, they are seeking orders for the remains of the former long serving Othaya MP be exhumed and samples be extracted and be subjected to a DNA test.
The remains of the third President of Kenya, the late Mwai Kibaki might be exhumed to ascertain the paternity of two people claiming to be his biological father.
This is after a mediation process failed to reach a conclusive end and the former President known children opposing deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) tests.
Last month High Court judge Maureen Odero referred the former Head of State family and two people claiming to be his biological children to mediation with a hope that the process would end the dispute revolving around DNA test to find whether there is paternity relationship between the duo and the deceased.
However, last week, the court was informed that the mediation has collapsed, opening a gate for a full legal battle over the distribution of the late President’s estate estimated to be worth billions of shillings.
The late Kibaki’s children led by the eldest; Judith Wanjiku have refused a DNA test be conducted and thus dimming any chances of sharing out the property with the two persons.
The two are identified in court documents as Mr Jacob Ocholla and a woman codenamed JNL.
They are insisting on DNA test to prove they were sired by the late Head of State while his known four children are opposing the process, citing violation of their privacy.
The collapsed mediation was being conducted by a court-appointed mediator Reverend Geoffrey Njenga. The parties held two mediation meetings on October 6 and 14, 2022. They were unable to reach an agreement in relation to the DNA testing and recognition of Ms JNL and Mr Ocholla as Kibaki’s children.
In their application Mr Ocholla and Ms JNL are asking the court to order for the sibling DNA test involving them and Kibaki’s children, Wanjiku, James Mark Kibaki, David Kagai Kibaki and Anthony Andrew Githinji Kibaki so that it can scientifically be known be whether they are his children.
In the alternative, they are seeking orders for the remains of the former long serving Othaya MP be exhumed and samples be extracted and be subjected to a DNA test.
Nairobi based lawyer, Morara Omoke who is representing Mr Ocholla avers that since there are no known DNA samples of the late Kibaki that have been stored in a data bank or any other facility, exhumation remains the only option if not sibling test.
However, in her response, Judy Wanjiku, the only known daughter of the late President disputes the parentage of duo by her father adding that there is no justification for the court to grant the orders being sought.
Further, she notes that the testing would violate her privacy and that of her three siblings.
The first born child of the third president of Kenya also states that an order for exhumation of remains of the late President cannot just be granted as he was buried following a State burial and the final laying to rest is a matter of national and international importance and publicly funded.
She confirms that Mr Ocholla and Ms JNL are not listed in Kibaki’s last will dated November 30, 2016 in which he shared his wealth among his children equally and that her father never introduced the two to his family during his lifetime.
“It is extremely suspect that throughout Kibaki’s life he never acknowledged or introduced the objectors to his family or that the objectors were known to any members of the Kenyan public as Kibaki’s children. It is quite strange that none of the objectors made any efforts to contact the petitioners in over 60 years during the pendency of Kibaki’s life to make the allegations that they now do in their applications relating to their relationship with Kibaki,” Judy states.
She adds that Ms JNL’s parents are known and that her mother is alive and adds that claims of a relationship between Ms JNL’s mother and her father are inadmissible.
According to Ms JNL, her mother and the Kibaki met while they were both students in the United Kingdom in late 1950s.
In her court papers, she states that her mother was studying hygiene and tropical medicine while Kibaki was a student of economics and political science.
But in response Judy denies the woman’s allegations and adds that Ms JNL’s photograph with Kibaki does not support her allegations that she was his biological daughter since he was a public figure and was often photographed with various people.
She also denies interacting with Ms JNL since 1968 as alleged.
Together with her siblings, Judy denies engaging with Ms JNL in any private or family function or in any capacity.
“The allegation that the petitioners and Ms JNL have in the past checked on each other from time to time is therefore untrue,” says Judy.
Further, she notes that though she alongside with Jimmy and David attended Hospital Hill primary school in Nairobi they have no recollection of Ms JNL as their schoolmate.
To Mr Ocholla, Judy says a “mere facial resemblance, without more, which is denied, is insufficient to establish a familial connection between Mr Ocholla and Kibaki”, adding that there is no documentary evidence or third party collaboration of Mr Ocholla’s allegations of his relationship with Kibaki.
She further denies President Kibaki acknowledged that Mr Ocholla was his biological son.
In a rejoinder, lawyer Omoke says that the rights of Mr Ocholla should be prioritized over the rights to privacy asserted by Judy and her siblings.
In regard to the will presented to the court by Judy and her brothers, Mr Omoke asserts that the said will is a forgery and he will be lodging an application in due course to have it nullified.
Mr Ocholla says that Kibaki met his mother at Makerere university Uganda.
According to court documents filed by lawyer Omoke, the late President had recognized Mr Ocholla as his first born child.
“They have refused to cooperate with Mr Ocholla in this succession process and refuse to accept that he is the son of President Kibaki. A DNA paternity test is the sure way of establishing the biological nexus of the Petitioners and the Objectors to Kibaki,” states lawyer Omoke.
“It is germane that the DNA paternity test be ordered in order prevent the oppression of Mr Ocholla by leaving him out of the estate of Kibaki yet he is his son and hence a beneficiary in the estate,” adds the lawyer.
He says his client met Kibaki several times even after his retirement from the Presidency and was assured a share of inheritance in 2016.
Mr Ocholla, 62, and Ms JNL, 61, are claiming to be the first and second born biological children of Kibaki, respectively.
At stake in the dispute is the succession and distribution of Kibaki’s wealth as Mr Ocholla and Ms JNL, want to be recognized as his children and beneficiaries of his estate.
The case will be heard on December 6, 2022 before Justice Erick Ogolla.
Kibaki died at the age of 90 on April 22, 2022 and his body was interred at his Kanyange village home near Othaya town in Nyeri county.
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