May it please the court, my name is…, and I represent Mr.AlphonceMuoki who is the respondent. It is our case that the petitioner in this matter, Faith Mueni, does not and has never owned or held the parcel of land identified as L.R. No 9999 Machakos and therefore is ill advised by her counsel in asking this honorable court to making any orders regarding the said parcel of land. We will show the court that;
i) My client AlphonceMuoki was never married to Faith Mueni,
ii) All the contributions towards the purchaser of the 13 acre farm in Machakos (LR No. 9999) were made by my client Alphonce,
iii) Subsequently, Faith is not entitled to any share of the farm.
Your Honour, this court has just listened to a sensational presentation by the petitioner‘s side intended to paint my good client in bad light. It is not disputed that my client knew Faith Mueni; my client admits that they had a brief romantic liaison 13 years ago and got a child. My client not being one to abandon his responsibilities and as a way of making up for his indiscretions, out of the kindness of his heart offered to provide for the petitioner and their baby. It is sad that the kindness shown by my client has been abused to this point that we find ourselves at today. Thirteen years ago, Alphonce was a well-educated man working for the Ministry of Education making strides career wise. He meets Faith who is working as a waiter and they have a brief sexual liaison for ten months. They are blessed with a son and Alphonce is proud enough to give the child his last name, Sebastian Muoki. For whatever reason, the relationship turns sour and the two part ways but Alphonce is responsible and proud enough of his son that he supports them and even makes visits to Faith‘s home to be with him. Six months after their relationship has ended, Faith contacts Alphonce and informs him that she has lost her job as a waiter and is in need of a place to stay. She could rely on my client‘s kindness and sense of responsibility to act. Alphonce has held a relatively enviable job and has made something of himself, having been able to acquire loan facilities from a bank and buy a 13 acre piece of land near Katumani research institute on his own. Alphonce empathizes with the seemingly helpless Faith and agrees to put her up at his farm house even letting her work the land at no profit to himself and never demanding any rents. There is a clear understanding that this arrangement was merely temporary until my client finds a bride and starts his home at the farm. This is all contained in my client‘s sworn statement and he will testify to this.
Your Honour, the petitioner contends that she has been married to my client for 13 years and seeks to rely on the evidence of MzeeNyamai. MzeeNyamai is an 85 year old friend of Faith‘s parents and is in his own words ―the memory of the community‖. With all due respect MzeeNyamai has seen better days. He was 72 years when the alleged traditional marriage ceremony between my client an Faith took place. With ageing comes a lot of degradation physical functional and abilities such as memory and recollection bear the brunt. As ―the memory of the community‖ is it also possible that MzeeNyamai witnessed very many such ceremonies and is getting the participants confused? In his sworn statement he already makes the mistake of stating that Faith has 3 sons when in fact it is a son and 2 daughters. Alphonce is father to the boy and is responsible for him alone. The petitioner also seeks to rely on two photographs as proof of my client‘s alleged marriage to Faith. We admit that the photographs are authentic but they are not dated and the photographer cannot come before this Honourable court. We will kindly be requesting the court to indulge us in the rule requiring documentary evidence to be presented by its author.
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