Monica Okoth and mother-in-law disagree over Ken Okoth’s DNA outcome

Monica Okoth, the widow of the Late Kibra MP Ken Okoth, has been given 15 days to put an end to her suspicions over her husband’s DNA test results, which showed Okoth sired Nairobi MCA Anne Thumbi’s 4-year-old son.

DNA test results released on September 5, 2019 confirmed that there was a 99.99 per cent chance that Ken Okoth, who died on July 26, was the biological father of Thumbi’s child.

The magistrate's court had ordered a DNA examination be conducted after the child, and her mother, were excluded from being part of the process of the late MP’s burial. Okoth’s family had refused to acknowledge Thumbi and her son as part of the family.

And on Wednesday, September 18, Ken Okoth’s mother Angeline Ajwang, widow Monica Okoth, and Anne Thumbi returned to court to make formal submissions on whether each of them has accepted or rejected the September 5 DNA test outcome.

Angeline Ajwang said she has accepted the DNA test results, and asked the court to terminate Thumbi’s case seeking to establish the paternity of her son.

Monica Okoth, on the other hand, wasn’t satisfied with the test results. She told the court that she had commissioned independent DNA tests on Okoth and Thumbi’s son, and is yet to receive the outcome.

Monica, therefore, asked the court to allow her 20 days to get the results, but the magistrate directed that she be given 15 days to confirm whether the tests commissioned by her would give different results.

The commercial court magistrate, M. Obura, directed that the matter be mentioned on October 2 after Monica receives her independent DNA test results.

Thumbi’s lawyer, Elkana Mogaka, asked the court to close the files of the case, saying the September 5, 2019 DNA test outcome is reliable, and all parties should be guided by it.

Mogaka says Thumbi’s next move is to file a case at the High Court (Family Division), where her son would be listed as a partial inheritor of the Late Ken Okoth’s property.

It remains unclear whether the Late Ken Okoth left a Will.