Ms Sylvia Toroitich Moi, one of the widows of Jonathan Moi holding the portrait of her husband at their home in Kabimoi Farm in Eldama Ravine on April 21, 2019.
The High Court has declined to suspend a ruling ordering that DNA tests be conducted on the children of late President Daniel Moi’s eldest son, Jonathan Toroitich, in a succession battle.
The court had ordered the test be conducted on all 19 beneficiaries of the estate of the late Jonathan last year.
However, a section of the family sought to suspend the decision to enable them appeal against the ruling.
The court rejected the application, saying the apprehension that DNA testing would exclude certain individuals from benefitting from the estate was misplaced.
The court said Section 3(2) of the Law of Succession Act states that a child includes an adopted child, and under Section 29 of the Law of Succession Act, persons who can demonstrate dependency may equally qualify as beneficiaries of a deceased person’s estate, whether or not they are biological offspring.
“The DNA exercise does not conclusively determine entitlement to inherit. It is only evidentiary tool among other available to the court. Consequently, even if any person was found not to be biological child, such a person will remain at liberty to prove qualification under the statute,” said the court.
Late President Daniel arap Moi.
A section of the beneficiaries of the estate had asked for the paternity test, alleging that the late President Moi had insisted in his will that only his bloodline should benefit from the share of his multi-billion shilling estate.
The court then ordered the children be subjected to kinship or sibling DNA examination, which was to be conducted at the Lancet laboratory or at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
In the ruling, the court said the DNA testing does not disintegrate the estate, does not confirm beneficiaries and does not extinguish one’s statutory rights to prove status either as a child within section 3 of the Law of Succession Act or as a dependant under section 29.
The court added that the continued delay in implementing the order prolonged uncertainty and postpones resolution of the estate to the detriment of all the parties.
The case will be mentioned on March 5 for directions.
Jonathan died on April 19, 2019, aged 63 and was buried at his farm in Kabimoi, Eldama Ravine.
Sylvia Toroitich Moi with her children Leroy Too Moi, Wayne Kiprop Moi and Barbara Jebet Moi during Jonathan Moi's burial service at Kabarak University graduation grounds on April 27, 2019.
Following his death, his first wife, Sylvia, was granted a temporary order to administer the estate and for purposes of offsetting bills and preserving her husband’s estate until the court made a final determination on the matter.
The family later agreed to pick administrators from each of his four houses to be administrators of the estate, after identifying the 19 beneficiaries.
The former President, who died on February 4, 2020, had given a 20 percent stake in each of the four properties and two bank accounts to his five sons- the late Jonathan, Raymond, Gideon, Philip and John Mark, in his Will.
Moi’s instructions were that the ancestral land be shared equally among the sons, who will later transfer ownership of their portions to their children.
As for the three daughters, Jenifer Chemutai, Doris Chepkorir and the late June Chebet, Moi gave each one Sh100 million.
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