Mzee David Wakaimba told the court that his first-born son Sammy Wakaimba, who died in an accident more than 30 years ago, owned nothing of his own to be inherited by the children.
He also told the court that at the time of his son’s death, the mother of the sons was not married to his son, and he could, therefore, not confirm if they were his son’s children.
An Eldoret business tycoon locked in a succession battle with his two grandsons over a share of his Sh7 billion wealth wants the court to quash their claim, saying they had no right to his vast property.
Mr David Wakaimba told the court that his first-born son Sammy Wakaimba, who died in an accident more than 30 years ago, owned nothing of his own to be inherited by the children.
He also told the court that at the time of his son’s death, the mother of the sons was not married to his son, and he could, therefore, not confirm if they were his son’s children.
“All that my late son owned while alive including the business in Eldoret town and 100 acres’ agricultural land in Plateau area of Uasin Gishu County where he was buried belongs to me and not the deceased as claimed by his two sons,” he told the court.
Mr Wakaimba’s vast estate, estimated to be worth more than Sh7 billion, is spread in major towns of Eldoret, Nakuru and Nairobi and it includes several flats, business premises, hundreds of acres of land in Rift Valley and developed prime plots across the country.
While testifying before Justice Reuben Nyakundi, Mr Wakaimba accused Kevin and Ivan of being ungrateful despite spending more than Sh5million to meet the cost of their college education.
“Instead of being close to me so that I can continue helping them on a voluntary basis, they have now been incited to take me to court yet I have been helping out of sympathy as an elder in the society,” said Mr Wakaimba.
Kevin and Ivan want to be given a share of the wealth, saying they had fees to clear for their university and college education.
Ivan, who was pursuing a degree course in Film production at one of the universities in South Africa, swore in court documents that he was forced to terminate his studies last year due to lack of fees.
Kevin, on the other hand, who was training as a pilot in Malindi, was sent home after he failed to raise the fees at the aviation school, the two grandchildren said in court papers.
The duo claims that their grandfather started distancing away from them after their father, Sammy Wakaimba, passed on.
The two, who were still young when their father died through the tragic road accident while aged 37, claim that their grandfather went ahead and lodged an insurance claims on the false position that Mr Wakaimba had left no other beneficiary behind.
He did this despite knowing that his deceased son left behind a wife, Rose and two sons Kevin and Ivan, who are now grownups, the two have said in their plaint.
The two sons further said in court documents that their grandfather’s decision to completely lock them out of their father’s share of the vast wealth was unfair as it was also denying them the chance to complete their education.
They have also faulted him for evicting them from their late father’s multi-million 100-acre flower farm in the outskirts of Eldoret town where he was buried.
The grandfather, the two said, later sold the farm and pocketed all the proceeds.
But defending himself in the dock, Mr Wakaimba maintained that to the best of his knowledge, Kevin and Ivan have completed their respective college studies and that the issue of dropping out was strange to him.
“What I know is that my grandsons have finished their college studies. Even Kevin who studied as pilot told me that he has secured a job with one of the airline firms and that he is flying a plane between Nairobi and Mombasa where he is being paid a monthly salary of Sh100,000,” Mr Wakaimba told the court.
He regretted that Kevin and Ivan have refused to work hard and instead resorted to looking for white collar jobs despite the fact that he was ready and willing to support them in business so as to be self-reliant in their lives.
Their mother, Rose Tiren narrated to the court how her father in-law sold the 100-acre property where her husband was buried, thus rendering them landless.
“I was forced to go back to my parent’s home in Moiben before my brother Silas Tiren who is the area Member of Parliament rented for us a Sh30,000 house in Eldoret town,” Rose told Justice Nyakundi.
Hearing of the case will continue on December 16.
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