The High Court dismissed a claim by a United States-based Kenyan woman who alleged that she was the widow of former Cabinet Minister and powerful civil servant Simeon Nyachae.
This was seen as a win to Nyachae’s family.
Justice Eric Ogola found that Margaret Chweya had failed to prove that she was lawfully married to the late Nyachae.
The judge further ruled that her two sons could not be recognised as dependants of the deceased, noting that their biological fathers are alive.
“Pictures on their own cannot prove marriage,” Justice Ogola ruled.
The judge said marriage must be demonstrated through clear evidence recognised in law, including proof of customary rites, a civil ceremony, or consistent cohabitation coupled with public repute.
The dispute arose from succession proceedings in which Chweya moved to court claiming spousal and dependency rights over Nyachae’s estate.
She argued that she had been married to the former minister and supported her claim by presenting photographs allegedly showing her with Nyachae during his lifetime.
Chweya had listed Grace Wamuyu and Leon Nyachae as respondents, accusing them of conspiring to exclude her family from the will and deny her inheritance from Nyachae’s estate.
She recounted meeting and falling in love with Nyachae at Jogoo House, insisting that her co-wives were aware of her and maintained that all wives deserved equal treatment.
Represented by Mogaka Musyoki and Company Advocates, Chweya asserted that she was not merely claiming to be Nyachae’s wife but had been married to him in a traditional ceremony in 1970, before Leon was born and before Grace Wamuyu became known to Nyachae, with dowry paid to her late uncle following her father’s death.
The 69-year-old Los Angeles resident revealed that Nyachae had bought her a house in Loresho as his wife, emphasising that he married his wives traditionally and treated them equally. She denied allegations by her stepson Leon that she had been married to four other men, clarifying that she had never been legally married multiple times and refuting any association with George Gordon Odero.
Chweya stated she had three children with Nyachae and dismissed evidence presented by a private investigator as misleading, incomplete, and deliberately altered to tarnish her reputation. She challenged the authenticity of the will produced in court, claiming the signature differed from Nyachae’s and that the executors had omitted some of his properties. Furthermore, she alleged that Leon and Grace Wamuyu had already sold portions of
Nyachae’s estate to American investors despite ongoing succession proceedings, framing the dispute as one between wives rather than children.
However, the court rejected the claim, holding that photographs alone were insufficient to establish the existence of a valid marriage under Kenyan law.
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