Kibaki's friends, sons know I am his daughter, woman claims

Former President Mwai Kibaki. [File, Standard]

Former President Mwai Kibaki friends and his sons knew that he had a daughter outside marriage, a woman claiming to be his daughter has told the court.

The woman code-named JNL says ex-cabinet ministers Kenneth Matiba, Dr. Julius Kiano and the former Commissioner Income Tax G.K Ihiga knew about her birth and relations to Kibaki.

JNL said that she was told by a family member that Kibaki’s three sons had agreed to recognise her as their sibling save for Judy.

“I informed by my contact, whose information I verily believe to be true that the men in the meeting (James Kibaki, David Kibaki and Anthony Kibaki), agreed to formally recognise me as their bloodline sibling, but the ladies in the group, led by my sister Judith, were very resistant and this may explain why James, David and Anthony have not objected to my application dated October14, 2022,” claimed JNL in a new reply before the court.

This comes as Jacob Ocholla, a man also claiming to be Kibaki’s son insisted that his quest to have the former President exhumed  is to ensure that DNA results are accurate.

His lawyer Morara Omoke argued that Kibaki had no known siblings, hence, the only way of knowing the truth about his birth was to unbury him.

"It does not please the second objector (Ocholla) to insist on exhumation of his late father’s body but it is necessary in this case since there is no known living male relatives of the deceased from whom a sample for DNA paternity may be retrieved; the petitioners are unwilling to submit to a sibling DNA test; and a sibling DNA test may be conducted and it turns out there is more than one set of siblings in the samples gathered from the petitioners and objectors,” argued Omoke.

Ocholla also claimed that DNA drawn from siblings cannot give accurate results. He prayed for the court to order the police or Kenya Defence Forces to facilitate the process of exhumation.

In the meantime, JNL claimed that she was born 15  days  before Kibaki married former First Lady Lucy Kibaki.

JNL narrated that she was born on December 1,1961, adding that Kibaki visited her at the Aga Khan Hospital nursery.

He then married Lucy  on Dec 16, 1961. She claimed that she is seven months senior to Judy. According to JNL, Judy knew about her being a step sister as they were close.

"I shared and told my sister Judith that I was born out of a relationship between my father, Emilio Mwai Kibaki, seven years after my mother had been legally separated,” claimed JNL.

On the other hand, the four Kibaki children were opposed to the late President being exhumed. According to them, Ocholla’s semblance to their late father does not indicate any relationship. They argued that videos produced in court cannot be used as the basis to exhume Kibaki for a DNA.

"This court cannot be used as a tool for a fishing expedition. A trial Judge must not be seen to descend into the arena of conflict in a trial, to generate evidence not canvassed or adduced by witnesses to decide a case. Even if this court was to believe that the deceased and second objector bear any physical resemblance, which is denied, is that by itself sufficient proof to establish a link resulting in the grant of the orders sought by the second objector,” their submissions read in part.

Judy, Jimmy,David and Anthony also argued that Ocholla’s name is not  “Mwai” as cited in his papers. Instead, they claimed that he is  Jacob Ojuka Ocholla.

On JNL, they argued that there was no evidence from her mother about the alleged relationship with Kibaki or any of his friends who were named in the case.

Before he died, Kibaki left a Will dictating how his wealth would be managed.

Kibaki in his Will kept his children-in-law out of succession matrix and ordered that his wealth should be managed through a holding company.

Kibaki's Will, written three years after his exit from the government that he served for 10 years meticulously details his preferred interment place, his executors, specific gifts, the residues, how his grandchildren will inherit the wealth and even declared short-term arrangements on how his wealth would transition to a holding company.

Kibaki first wished that he would be buried in a Kibaki Family Mausoleum. Although he was Kenya's President, he tasked his family to construct his final resting place. Kibaki died on April 21, aged 90.

"I declare that I wish for my mortal remains to be buried in a Kibaki Mausoleum to be constructed by my estate. I declare that I am domiciled in the Republic of Kenya. I wish this Will to be governed and construed according to the laws of Republic of Kenya," reads the Will that is now filed before the High Court, Family Division in Nairobi.