The inheritance dispute over the estate of former President Mwai Kibaki is set for a court hearing following a contentious application to exhume his body for DNA testing. Two individuals, Jacob Ocholla and a woman referred to as JNL, are seeking recognition as Kibaki’s biological children, demanding DNA tests to substantiate their claims.
Jacob Ocholla asserts that he is Kibaki’s firstborn son and contends that no existing male siblings can provide suitable DNA for verification. Similarly, JNL insists that exhuming Kibaki’s body is the only definitive way to confirm her paternity claim.
The late President Kibaki had listed his four children—Judy Wanjiku, Jimmy Kibaki, David Kagai, and Anthony Githinji—as the rightful heirs to his multimillion estate. These children have strongly opposed the exhumation request, arguing that it would violate their privacy and desecrate the dignity of their father’s resting place.
In an affidavit sworn on behalf of her siblings, Judy Wanjiku emphasized that exhuming Kibaki’s remains would not only infringe on their privacy but also disrupt the sanctity of a burial conducted with state honors.
She highlighted that Kibaki’s interment was a significant national and international event funded by public resources, thus requiring a higher threshold for any such order to be granted.
