Jacob Ochola Mwai insists that he is the son of the late president Mwai Kibaki and not his brother as people think.
The 62-year old came to know that Kibaki was his biological father at the age of 22 years, when his step father(from the Luo community) passed on, and his mother, Hildah Ochola, was compelled to tell him the truth about his background.
His mother told him the truth a year after his step father died and a month later she showed him who his real father was.
It turned out that his father was a very common person to him. Kibaki as well as his step father were members of the Karen country club. Being raised in Karen, Ocholla was among those who frequented the club.
The news of his real father’s identity was broken to him by Kibaki himself and his mother while they were at the Amboseli Grill Foyer with Kibaki saying that they no longer wanted to subject him to a lot of injustices. That was on June 21,1982.
From there he met with Kibaki a number of times and even attended Lucy Kibaki’s funeral service at the Consolata shrine. Kibaki assured him that he will get his share of his inheritance.
Ocholla used to be a hotel manager in Mombasa and he would meet with Kibaki, who was then the Vice President on holidays where they would spend quality time, leaving his colleagues wondering how he was related to the second in command.Â
Before his first wife, Lily Wanjiru, succumbed to carcinoma of the rectum at the age of 27 years, Kibaki would spend time with them at the Agha Khan hospital where she was admitted.
That was however in the past. Later, meeting with Kibaki became a nightmare as every time he tried accessing him he encountered boundaries.
“I am not a brother to the late president, I am his son, biological son. I made each and every effort to visit with my father at his Muthaiga residence as well as the office in Nyari. I am well known to the guards there, the GSU guards. As you are aware, all these premises are under CCTV cameras and each time I visited my father’s residence, I went with my son(now 11 years old) and driver,” Ochola explained. in an interview with KTN News.
Ochola began making efforts to meet with Kibaki in the past few years and making appointments with people that would help him see the third president of Kenya, who had retired by then, but all was in vain.
“I have made every effort to try and resolve this issue with my family. I went to the extent of conducting certain individuals I suspected would be of great help in helping me resolve this issue,”Ochola said.
First he contacted the head of Catholic church John Njue, since Kibaki was a member of the church. He discussed the issue with his legal representative Dr. John Khaminwa and even court of Appeal Judge Justice Emmanuel Okubasu, statehouse chief of staff, former CJ Willy Mutunga but all the efforts were unsuccessful.
He resolved to meet with Kibaki’s elder sister, Esther Waithereo in Othaya , at the time Kibaki was ailing, and explained his predicament but he still could not be helped since she also told him that she could not access him. At Nairobi Hospital, where Kibaki was admitted, Ochola was also denied a chance to see Kibaki by the CEO identified as Pamba.
His only hope is that his prayers will come to pass as he seeks Kshs150 billion from Kibaki’s empire for his inheritance as the firstborn child.
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