A 73-year-old man wants the High Court to compel his 48-year-old son to relinquish 20 per cent of his salary for his upkeep.
In the potentially precedent-setting matter filed in Kitale, Mr Gideon Kisira Cherowo, a resident of Birunda in Saboti sub-county, Trans Nzoia County, says in court papers that he sacrificed a lot for his child, Mr Washington Chepkombe Cherowo, to get an education all the way to university.
“I used all the resources I had to enable the defendant to be in a good position so that he can help us. Right now, my wife and I are in a horrible state yet we have a son who is working. I pray that since the defendant has a good salary, I request for 20 per cent of his salary to be given to me as the father,” Mzee Cherowo said in Civil Suit 436 of 2021 at the Kitale High Court.
Mr Cherowo says his son works at the Kenya Airports Authority, but does not provide further details on what he does or how long he has worked there.
“I have tried several times since 2008 to seek assistance from my son (the defendant), but all in vain,” Mzee Cherowo says in the court documents.
The old man says out of his four children, only Mr Chepkombe is gainfully employed.
“I sold my land in Cheptais, Bungoma, to educate him from primary to university. I also gave him a quarter of an acre. I even went ahead to pay dowry for the defendant’s wife, which cost me four cows and some amount of money, whose sum I cannot recall,” Mzee Cherowo says in his plaint.
The case by Mzee Cherowo could potentially break new ground as upkeep is usually enforced only for the benefit of children below the age of 18.
Mr Gideon Cherowo at his home in Saboti on December 02, 2021. He has sued his 48-year-old son for upkeep.
It is unclear to what extent children can be compelled to support their parents after they have become adults.
The civil suit dated November 17 was apparently drawn and filed by Mzee Cherowo, and not an advocate of the High Court, as is usually the case.
Mzee Cherowo has attached a witness statement from a Mr David Masyek Cherowo, whom he says is Mr Chepkombe’s brother.
In his statement, Mr Masyek says his brother should cater for his parents.
“The defendant deserted his parents after he got a job. It is now 17 years since we saw him. He does not come or send any assistance to us. We are leading a very horrible life after the defendant consumed the very thing our father had, so as to take him to school,” Mr Masyek says in the statement.
Mzee Cherowo lives in a one-roomed brick house in his three-quarter-acre in Bungoma.
He also has a two-roomed mud house and uses one of the rooms as the kitchen.
He has a bathroom made out of banana leaves in the compound where he stays with his wife. BY DAILY NATION