Woman joins Karume paternity saga

Former Defence minister Njenga Karume. Photo/FILE

The mother of a 45-year-old man seeking recognition from former Cabinet minister Njenga Karume as his son has joined the case bringing a new twist to the paternity saga.

Ms Lucy Thuo has filed an affidavit to support her son’s case seeking to have Mr Karume undergo a paternity test to establish if Mr Edwin Thuo is his son.

Ms Thuo maintains that Mr Karume is the father of her son. The former Cabinet minister has denied the allegations.

According to Ms Thuo, Mr Karume had been paying child support of Sh100 monthly under the Affiliation Act until 1981 when the law was repealed.

As a result, the woman says, she strained financially to educate Mr Thuo until he completed his university studies.

Ms Thuo claims she later received some erratic support from Mr Karume including Sh30,000 in 1991 to boost Mr Thuo’s business and a wedding gift of Sh20,000 from the former Kiambaa MP’s late wife.

High Court Judge David Majanja allowed the application by lawyer Irimu Kang’ata acting for Mr Thuo to file his mother’s affidavit.

The woman denies that she is out to extort money from Mr Karume insisting that she had a relationship with Mr Karume that led to the birth of her eldest son on October 7, 1966.

Ms Thuo who says she is a first cousin of Mr Karume’s late wife, claims she became intimate with him after he hired her temporarily as a secretary in 1966 at the Kiambu General Transport Agency, his company.

“An intimate relationship blossomed between myself and the respondent (Mr Karume) that was contributed partly by the close working relationship, my naivety, ignorance, age and also promises that he would marry me resulting in pregnancy,” says Ms Thuo.

When she informed Mr Karume of the pregnancy, she alleges he refused to take responsibility or marry her as promised. Ms Thuo says she returned to her parents’ home heart broken.

“I suffered great indignation, shame and public ridicule for having a child out of wedlock, noting it was during an era of strong conservative values that abhorred intimacy before marriage,” Ms Thuo says.

She alleges that efforts to register Mr Thuo as Mr Karume’s son failed after the registrar of births and deaths in Kiambu refused to insert the name in the birth certificate.

She was allegedly informed that Mr Karume had withheld his consent. The hearing continues on December 1.