The multi-billion wealth belonging to Kenya’s third President, the late Mwai Kibaki, is still locked in court following a dispute by two persons claiming in court that they were sired by him and seeking a share of his vast property.
Nine months after the former president passed on, the duo, a man and woman codenamed JNL alleged that they had all rights to stake a claim in the wealth.
In an affidavit, they sought former president Mwai Kibaki’s body to be exhumed in a bid to carry out a DNA test. They also demanded Kibaki’s four children, Judy Wanjiku, Jimmy Kibaki, David Kagai and Anthony Githinji undertake a DNA test to show proof of their relationship.
JNL, who claims to be Kibaki’s first-born daughter, alleged in an affidavit, that her mother and Kibaki met when they were students in the United Kingdom.
While pointing out the relations, she stated that she was born 16 days before Kibaki married the late Mama Lucy Kibaki.
“My mother and the late Kibaki met while they were both students in the United Kingdom in the late 1950s. Kibaki even visited me and my mother when I was born in December 1961, exactly 16 days before he married the late Mama Lucy Kibaki.”
“I schooled together with Kibaki’s four children at Hospital Hill Primary School for seven years, and we were common friends and acquaintances. I even schooled in the USA with Wanjiku (Kibaki’s daughter) and have been friends,” read part of her affidavit.
She also claimed that some members of Kibaki’s family had agreed to include her in the family before it was objected.
“Kibaki’s sons as well as members of the larger Kibaki family had agreed to recognise me as a sibling in a meeting but the female members of the family were resistant.”
On the other hand, the man seeking a share of the multi-billion estate claimed that his physical resemblance with the former president proved beyond reasonable doubt that he was the prodigal son.
He argued that his mother broke the news to him of his roots and she allegedly organised a meeting for her son and the former president to meet.
Kibaki’s four children, however, opposed any DNA test to be carried out on them or their father. According to Wanjiku, her late father’s death was a national and international issue and the court should not entertain a prayer to exhume him.
“It is suspect for the two to show up after his death as he never introduced or acknowledged them as his children to his family,” Wanjiku stated in a response filed in court.
The case on whether Kibaki’s body will be exhumed for a DNA test will be heard on February 28, 2023.
The late Kenya’s third President left behind Ksh150 billion empire, having served for decades in the public service.
Source: kENYANS.CO.KE