Legal battle for Fidel Odinga estate begins as court orders DNA test

The legal fight for the control of the estate of Fidel Odinga, the son of Orange Democratic Leader Raila Odinga, began in the High Court in Nairobi with a consent by his mother and widow to conduct a paternity test on twins born by a different woman.

The twins, born months after Fidel’s death in January 2015, are at the centre of the property battle in which his mother Ida Odinga and sister Winnie are seeking rights of administration over his estate. The rights had been granted to his widow Lwam Getachew Bekele in January, but the Odingas claim this disadvantages the twins, among other issues.

The family has accused Ms Bekele of sidelining the twins, but the widow argues that the birth certificates attached by Ms Odinga and daughter Winnie do not tell who the father of the twins is. She also says the twins were born six months after the death of her husband.

At the mention of the case yesterday, lawyers Roger Sagana and Victor Olao for Ms Bekele and Ms Odinga respectively, told Justice Aggrey Muchelule that the test would resolve the matter.

“My client is saying that she will include the twins as beneficiaries of the estate if the test proves that they were sired by the deceased,” Mr Sagana said.

Neither Mrs Odinga nor Ms Bekele was in court. Their lawyers complained about what they termed negative publicity generated by the media coverage of the matter.

“The media should be barred from covering these proceedings because it is intrusive to privacy,” Mr Olao submitted.

Mr Sagana said he did not have an issue with the matter being covered although he supported the proposal.

The judge, however, said the matter had been brought to an open court and the only thing that would worry him was if the names of the minors were mentioned.

The judge added that the dispute revolved around paternity and not property.

The court adjourned the matter to next month after the parties signed the consent.

The judge directed the parties to co-operate for the extraction of blood samples and other tissues to be used in the tests and left it to them to decide where the tests will be conducted.