Raila Odinga's wife Mama Ida claims that her daughter-in-law Lwam Bekele cut contacts with the family months after her husband, Fidel Odinga's death.

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In a court case that could yet again draw the attention of the public, Mama Ida and her daughter Winnie Odinga, accuse Lwam of mischief and dishonesty.

According to court papers, the two, who are opposing Lwam's application to be Fidel's property sole administrator, say that she was unwilling to pursue reasons behind Fidel's death.

Mr Fidel Odinga, Raila's heir apparent, died after a night out with friends in 2015, news that caught the country in shock. He was the eldest son of the opposition leader.

“That even though the death of the deceased remained a mystery and efforts were made to establish what suddenly transpired, the petitioners herein, kept off from the family,” Ida and Winnie said in a joint affidavit.

They went on: “It remains unclear why the petitioner hastily ran away and kept off the family, whereas, there have been various efforts to establish contacts.”

But Bekele termed the statement “preposterous, offensive and made in bad taste”. 

She said Ida was in possession of Fidel’s autopsy report. Bekele accuses her mother-in-law of “unjustifiably and continuously making false, defamatory and/or unkind remarks about her family friends and herself.”

On Monday, reports emerged that Raila was keen not to have the matter published in local dailies, forcing the Standard to recall circulations that had been made at that time.

According to sources, he called KANU leader Gideon Moi, whose family has a stake in the Standard Group, forcing the editorial team to pull down the story.

Mrs Odinga is said to be keen to have two children reportedly born out of wedlock to Fidel included as dependants of their late father's estate.