Jimnah Mbaru embroiled in child support dispute – Business Daily
Billionaire businessman Jimnah Mbaru. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Billionaire businessman Jimnah Mbaru is embroiled in a maintenance dispute with a 24-year-old woman who is seeking more than Sh320,000 per month for the upkeep of the minor he is alleged to have sired.
The woman sued Mr Mbaru, accusing him of refusing to exercise his parental responsibility as the biological father of the four-year-old and for refusing to allow his name included in the child’s birth certificate.
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) had sought to join the matter over Mr Mbaru’s decision to donate his parental responsibility to an advocate through a power of attorney known as ‘putative father’.
Through Mwaura Kabata, the lawyers’ umbrella body also sought to argue on the alleged decision by Mr Mbaru to decline his name to be included in the minor’s birth certificate. The application was, however, rejected by the trial magistrate.
The mother was forced to withdraw the case after Mr Mbaru filed an objection, pointing out that she has brought the case using the Children’s Act, which has since been amended.
The woman through her lawyer Suiyanka Lempaa had pleaded with the court to be allowed to amend the pleadings but the presiding magistrate rejected the application.
Mr Lempaa said he withdrew the case tactfully so as to file a fresh one, to avoid prolonging the hearing.
In the pleadings, Mr Lempaa argued that power of attorney was not known in law and the father was treating the minor as a ‘property of chattel goods.’
He revealed that Mr Mbaru gave the power of attorney to Erick Murimi Kaburu on September 1, 2020, to be a ‘putative father’.
“The said Memorandum of Understanding dated 10th September 2020, the ‘putative father’ was required to pay Kshs 50,000 per month, which amount has not been remitted for the maintenance of the minor,” she claims in court documents.
Other than the Sh320,000 monthly upkeep, the woman had sought Sh600,000 per year for the minor’s school fees.
The amounts include monthly food expenses of Sh50,000, a similar amount for medical expenses, clothes, and house help. She also sought Sh100,000 for shopping and a further Sh20,000 for miscellaneous expenses.
The woman sought an order compelling Mr Mbaru’s name to be included in the birth certificate of the minor as his biological father and to get the actual custody of the minor.
She had accused Mr Mbaru of neglecting the minor, by giving a stranger power of attorney to take care of the child’s mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
She pointed out that Mr Mbaru is a senior citizen, a prominent businessman who owns enterprises worth billions of shillings and, therefore, capable of supporting the child.
Read: Jimnah Mbaru’s journey to the top
The woman says the child has the right to education but Mr Mbaru has refused to assume his parental responsibility by meeting expenses such as school fees, shelter, and medical expenditures.
She says she enrolled the minor in an international school.
