The Family Division of the High Court has heard dramatic testimony in the case challenging the will of former President Mwai Kibaki, with a man claiming to be his son narrating a decades-long relationship with the late Head of State.
Testifying before Justice Eric Ogola, Jacob Ochola Mwai, who was born in 1960, recounted how he first met Kibaki in 1982 at the age of 22 after being introduced by his late mother. Ochola told the court that the meeting marked the beginning of a close bond, with subsequent visits to the former President’s residences in Muthaiga, Nairobi, and Othaya in Nyeri.
Ochola said that Kibaki not only recognized him as his son but also urged him to change his name to include “Mwai.” He added that the former President’s sister, Esther Waitherero, was also aware of their relationship.
According to Ochola, in 2016 Kibaki personally assured him that he would issue a letter detailing his share of inheritance. However, under cross-examination by Senior Counsel Githu Muigai, Ochola was pressed to explain why he only formally changed his name in 2022, after Kibaki’s death.
He was also questioned on why he had not named his firstborn son after the former President if the relationship was as close as he claimed.
Ochola, together with co-petitioner Jane Nkini Likimani, is seeking the revocation of Kibaki’s will and an order for the exhumation of his body for DNA testing. The request has been fiercely opposed by members of the former President’s family.