I am a responsible father, Jomo Gecaga tells court

Former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s nephew and private secretary Jomo Gecaga and former TV News Anchor Ann Kiguta. [File, Standard]

Former State House official Jomo Gecaga has told the court that he is a responsible father who has taken care of his children at the centre of a maintenance battle with former television presenter, Ann Kiguta.

In his reply to Kiguta’s case, the former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Private Secretary says that he has been taking care of the minors and has always provided for their upkeep.

However, while asking the court to intervene, he states that the Sh2.7 million maintenance demanded by Kiguta is way too above what he currently earns.

Gecaga states that he neither owns any company nor is he a director. He states that he will continue providing for the minors within his means.

The former President’s nephew says that it is unfair to associate him with wealth while he has nothing but his salary as a government official.

“I have been blessed with five children, who include, the twins born by the plaintiff, and three other children for whom I have parental responsibility. I confirm that I take care and provide for my five children to the best of my ability and within my means.”

“The plaintiff seems to be under the mistaken impression, that because I am related to the family of the former presidents of Kenya, the said family’s alleged wealth belongs to me and that I have access to it and to endless resources, and she has made extremely unreasonable and unrealistic demands, to fund an untenable lifestyle,” argued Gechaga.

In an affidavit sworn on July 5, 2023, the former president’s aide asked the court to direct Kiguta to allow him physical custody of the minors.

“I urge the court to grant the following prayers: That both parents be granted the joint legal custody of the two children. That the defendant be granted the physical custody, care, and control of the children, with reasonable access rights to the plaintiff,” the affidavit reads in part.

“In the alternative, the parties be granted a shared custody order, with suitable modalities that will bear in mind the children's convenience and comfort as well as the parents’ competence to take care of them,” he adds.

He argues that having a successful career in journalism, Kiguta is financially stable and capable to provide for the children as well.

Therefore, he also wants the court to direct that the maintenance of the children be jointly and equally catered for by both parents.

In his reply to the maintenance case filed in court, Gecaga stated that there was nothing between them other than a brief encounter in 2015.

According to him, he has neither spent time with her in the same house since the minors were born.

He insists that he had no five-year relationship with her.

Gecaga continues: “The conception of the children was unplanned for and a surprise to me. However, I accepted the paternity of my twins and have since their birth provided for them to the best of my ability. I confirm that I have never been intimate with the plaintiff since the conception of the children,” he states in his reply.

Kiguta is seeking Sh2.7 million in maintenance from Gecaga.

But Gecaga asserts that he has given his children a decent life and has always been available for them.

“I have provided for the accommodation, education, medical cover, clothes, house-helps, a driver to pick and drop the children to school, and security for my children and it is preposterous to hear the plaintiff state in her pleadings that she has had to take loans to maintain the children, when all the big expenses are catered for singlehandedly by myself, from the children's birth to date,” he says.