62-year-old man claiming to be late President Kibaki's son moves to court seeking inheritance

Jacob Ochola, the 62-year-old man claiming to be the late president Mwai Kibaki's first born son, has moved to court seeking official recognition from Kibaki's kin and a piece of the former Head of State's family estate, reportedly valued at billions of shillings.

Ochola, through his lawyers Omoke Morara and Peacela Atim, filed the petition in Nyeri on July 15, 2022 before Justice Florence Muchemi.

He wants the court to compel the former president's children, Judy Kibaki, David Kagai, Jimmy Kibaki and Anthony Githinji, to reveal whether his name was included in a will he alleges was drafted by the former president before his demise.

He also wants the court to determine who will be appointed as administrator of Kibaki's estate and for the allocation process to commence as soon as possible.  

In the court documents, Ocholla expressed fears that he may be excluded from the distribution process owing to the fact that he was allegedly ignored by Kibaki’s family when he attempted to reach out to them on the same.

 “That the Citor has attempted to reach out to the Citees multiple times but his efforts have not been successful. The Citor is afraid that the Citees might proceed with the succession process without involving him and he might be left out of the estate of the deceased despite him being entitled to a share of the estate,” read the court documents in part.

The Court has since ordered Kibaki's family to accept or refuse the probate of the alleged will or show cause why letters of administration of Kibaki’s estate should not be granted to Ocholla. They have also been ordered to file their responses within 21 days.

“Take notice that in default of your so appearing and accepting probate of the said will, this court may proceed to grant letters of administration of the said estate to Jacob Ocholla Mwai, your absence notwithstanding,” reads a letter referenced ‘citation to accept and refuse probate’.

The case will be mentioned on September 19, 2022.

Ochola, who was born in Nairobi’s Kaloleni estate on July 22, 1960, claims to have grown up not knowing that he was Kibaki’s son.

He allegedly came to that realization following a conversation with his mother, one year after his adoptive father passed away. His foster father, he said, hailed from the Luo community, hence the name Ochola.

“When I turned 21, the person I knew as my father died. A year later, my mom disclosed to me that the man who had raised me was not my biological father. She told me she was going to talk to my father and introduce me to him, which she did after a month or so,” Ochola told Standard Digital in an interview in May.

Ochola claims he had interacted with Kibaki on several occasions at Karen County Club without knowing he was his father, but finally he was introduced to the former Head of State by his mother at Amboseli Grill on June 21, 1982.

“My adoptive father was a member of the Karen Country club just like the late president. I was raised in Karen and we frequented the club. Kibaki is someone I knew and so when the time came for me to meet my father, I never expected it to be the late president,” said Ochola.

“It’s not been easy for me having grown up speaking and thinking that I was Luo only to realize 22 years later that I was not from the lakeside tribe. I wish to state clearly that I am not the brother to the late president, I am his biological son.”

From then on, Ochola claims they remained in constant touch with Kibaki.