A woman claiming to be the widow of a billionaire bank executive wants his body exhumed to ascertain the paternity of two children she alleges he sired. Serah Wanjiru claims she married John Kagema, a former Equity Bank CEO, in 2007 and wants his body exhumed to obtain DNA samples for the paternity tests.
Ms Wanjiru is opposed to the use of body parts extracted from his body before he was buried in Ol Kalau in December last year.
Further, Ms Wanjiru’s lawyer George Kimani told High Court Judge Lydiah Achode that he could not trust DNA being extracted from Kagema’s surviving children, as “it is only women who know the father of their children”.
“In our culture, we say that a man does not pronounce that these are my children. It is their mother and her sisters who know who the father is,” he said, adding that his client does not trust the samples that have been stored to date. “We do not know the integrity of the laboratory where the harvesting and preservation was done. On that alone, our application will be fresh samples of (Kagema’s) body be harvested with (the) dignity it deserves. The body is buried somewhere in Ol Kalau, and with those samples and in participation of all the parties, we will be involved.” Marriage claims
To reinforce her marriage claims, Wanjiru had attached an affidavit alleged to have been from Kagema and sworn in April 2018, eight months before he died.
The patriarch died aged 73 in December last year.
Wanjiru also disputed claims that Beatrice Wanjiku was married to Kagema, claiming that she lived with him in Nairobi and he did not have another wife.
According to documents she filed in court, Wanjiru claims that Ms Wanjiku’s marriage certificate is fake. “I aver that the first petitioner, one Beatrice Wanjiku Mwangi alleged marriage is disputed and put to strict proof of her alleged marriage in light of the information that my deceased husband confided with me as his wife,” her claim reads.
Wanjiru further wants her two children supported by Kagema’s estate, but Wanjiku objected to this, saying there is no proof that they were sired by Kagema. Wanjiku told the court that she married Kagema on January 29, 1972, and they were in a monogamous marriage.
But according to Wanjiku’s lawyer Judy Thongori, some of the children said to belong to Kagema are grown-ups.
There are two other women who have claimed their children were sired by Kagema. Leah Gechaga and Esther Njeri are also battling to get a share of the estate of a man who owned, among other assets, Enashipai Resort and Spa in Naivasha.
In her application, Ms Njeri told the court that she married Kagema in 1982, and they got their first child in 1990. She claims that their son is the eldest of his children.
Kagema is the founding CEO of Equity Building Society, the predecessor of Equity Bank. He is said to have owned more than Sh5 billion in assets – land and shares in different companies, including Britam Ltd. Substantive shares Wanjiru filed a list of 21 companies that she says Kagema had substantive shares in, and accuses Wanjiku of concealing the same. In her list, there is Joheson Kenya Ltd, Fone Solutions, Mt Kenya Golf Resort Ltd, Lake Naivasha Holiday Inn Ltd, Unaitas, Safaricom, Naivasha Coffee House and Enashipai Holiday Homes Ltd.
Others include Strategic Mobile Ltd, Manyatta LTd, KenGen, Resolution Health, Mantex Ltd, Happy Den Motel, Sundowner Park Ltd and Equity Bank.
Wanjiru alleges that he had an insurance policy with Old Mutual Ltd and that he owned more than 120 parcels of land spread out across the country.
Her court papers also show that he owned more than 19 vehicles, including Land Cruisers, trucks, bulldozers and a bus, as well as a granite mining, cutting and polishing factory.
The case continues on November 20.
There's no story that cannot be told. We cover the stories that others don't want to be told, we bring you all the news you need. If you have tips, exposes or any story you need to be told bluntly and all queries write to us [email protected] also find us on Telegram
