Eldoret billionaire Mzee David Wakaimba, 78, is fighting his two grandchildren who want a share of his Sh7 billion estate.
The businessman testified on Tuesday before the High Court in Eldoret in a succession case involving two men who want a share of the vast estate.
They say they’re entitled because they are the children of Wakaimba’s son who died in a road accident 30 years ago.
Mzee surprised the court when he said his grandsons’ mother was not even married to his son before he died, raising legal questions of entitlement.
I have spent more than Sh5 million to educate my two grandsons. And, instead of being close to me so I can help them further, they instead moved to court
David Wakaimba
Mzee Wakaimba testified before Justice Reuben Nyakundi.
He accused Kevin Wakaimba and Ivan Wakaimba of being ungrateful to him, yet he had spent more than Sh5 million to educate them after their father’s death.
He also told the court the two had no right to claim part of his wealth because his son did not own anything at the time of his death.
“I have spent more than Sh5 million to educate my two grandsons. And, instead of being close to me so that I can help them further, they instead decided to move to court,” Wakaimba said.
He told the judge the petitioner’s father, Samuel Wakaimba, who was his firstborn son, had no wealth of his own, but his grandsons are demanding part of his estate.
“The business in Eldoret town and 100 acres of agricultural land in the Plateau area of Uasin Gishu county, which they claim, was in fact my own property,” Wakaimba said.
He said he buried his son in the 100 acres but not because it belonged to him (his son).
The mzee’s vast estate is spread across Eldoret, Nakuru and Nairobi. It includes flats, business venues, hundreds of acres in Rift Valley and developed prime plots countrywide.
Kevin and Ivan had earlier told the court they had dropped out of their colleges in Kenya and South Africa because of a lack of fees. They accuse their grandfather of locking them out of their father’s share of the wealth.
Kevin said he dropped out of college at Wilson Airport where he was studying to be a pilot, while his young brother Ivan was forced to return to Kenya from South Africa where he was pursuing a degree course in media arts.
Wakaimba said, however, that as far as he was concerned, the two had completed their education.
We are going through hard times and that is why we want what belonged to our father so that we can move on with our lives
Grandson Kevin Wakaimba
“What I know is that my grandsons have finished their college studies. Even Kevin who studied as a pilot told me that he has secured a job with an airline in Nairobi,” Mzee Wakaimba said.
He accused his grandchildren of refusing to work hard and instead insisting on white-collar jobs.
“I am ready and willing to support them in business so that they can live their lives well,” he said.
Kevin, who had earlier testified, told the judge he was unable to complete his training as a pilot because of a lack of fees, just like his young brother who was studying in South Africa.
“We are going through hard times and that is why we want what belonged to our father so that we can move on with our lives,” Kevin said.
In their affidavits, they said they want the court to compel their grandfather to include them in the share of their father’s wealth so they can use part of it to complete their studies.
Their mother, Rose Tiren, told the court her father-in-law sold the 100 acres where her husband was, rendering them landless.
“I was forced to go back to my parent’s home in Moiben before my brother Silas Tiren who is the area MP rented us a Sh30,000 house in Eldoret town,” Rose told justice Nyakundi.
The case was adjourned until December 16.
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