The High Court will in December hear an application by Phoebe Akinyi Gweno, the mother of twins at the centre of a property dispute in opposition leader Raila Odinga’s family. 

 The matter will be heard on December 13.

Gweno, through lawyer John Swaka, moved to court seeking to be enjoined in a case in which Raila’s wife Ida has sued Lwam Gatachew Bekele, the widow of her son Fidel, over the administration of the latter’s estate.

According to documents filed in court, Gweno says the petition is marred by ill will and malicious motives, which, she says, had created a tussle between Bekele and Ida.

Interested party

“The intended interested party (Gweno) and her children have been left in between and owing to that, she seeks leave of court to be enjoined as an interested party to clear the air and give her position on the same,” says Swaka.

She says she also wants to be enjoined in the matter to protect the interests of the children.

Gweno filed the affidavit a few days after Justice Aggrey Muchelule of the Milimani High Court, Family Division, ordered a DNA test on the twins to determine if they are Fidel’s biological children.

The orders were issued following an objection by Bekele to an application filed by Ida and her daughter, Winnie, seeking grant be the administrator of Fidel’s estate.

The court heard that Fidel had left the widow with one child and now two minors have emerged whose paternity must be established.

Bekele, through her lawyer Rogers Sagana, had termed her mother-in-law’s claims as a concoction of facts given that the twins were born six months after Fidel’s death.

However, Bekele said she does not have a problem accepting the minors as beneficiaries of her late husband’s estate if it is proved that they are his children. 

Birth certificates

In the application filed in court, Bekele says her son is the only heir to her husband’s estate. 

She points out that in an affidavit filed by Ida, the birth certificates of the twins do not indicate their father, thus do not prove their paternity. 

The birth certificates, she says, indicate the twins were born on July 1, 2015 which was six months after the death of Fidel and wonders how the deceased supported the children before they were even born.

She further says the petition by Ida and Winnie had been overtaken by events since it was filed outside the timelines stipulated by law of succession.