Former assistant minister John Keen will go down in history books as one who successfully fought to clear his name in a paternity suit filed by a woman who claimed to be his daughter.
Ruby Karimi, 35, claimed Keen had constantly rejected her despite her spirited efforts to have him acknowledge that he was her biological father.
Karimi relied on a statement attached to the affidavit and which her mother, Janet Ekumbo, signed.
In her affidavit filed at the High Court, Ekumbo claimed the former assistant minister forced himself into her room at Namanga River Hotel.
Ekumbo claimed that towards the end of October 1980, she was on her way from Moshi, Tanzania, when she booked into the hotel where she allegedly met the retired politician.
"He came to my table and started talking to me saying he remembered seeing me at Parliament Buildings where I frequently visited my cousin," the woman claimed.
The woman alleged that as she retired to her room on the material night, Keen followed her.
"As I turned to close the door, I realized John Keen was following me quietly, upon which he forced his way inside and forcibly started getting intimate with me," the woman claimed.
But the judge found the narrative wanting as she did not report the matter to the police and at the same time no one in her family knew about the incident.
"The implicit claim by the petitioner's mother is that she was raped. The incident alleged to have occurred 36 years or so ago, was never reported to the police, and as I understand her evidence to be, the petitioner's mother never spoke of the alleged rape to any one, not her brother with whom she was living, nor her father," the judge found.
While opposing the case, Keen argued that Karimi had not identified to the court any specific rights that had been violated and the manner in which the rights had been violated.
The former assistant minister also denied knowledge of both Karimi and her mother.
He also denied allegations of a union between him and Karimi's mother.
"I am not the applicant's biological father as alleged and never at any one time have I recognised her as my child," Keen said in his reply.
He also claimed that Karimi's mother was using the case to extort money from him.
Karimi had asked the court to order the Registrar of Births and Deaths to amend her birth certificate to include Keen as her father should the paternity test be positive.
The court, however, ruled that Karimi had not established any biological relation to warrant the court to force Keen to undergo a DNA test.
Judge Mumbi Ngugi said that although Karimi's narrative on how she had attempted to see the man appeared to be factual, she had not shown the court any connection with her alleged father or how her mother and Keen related.
