A 73-year old man has filed a court case demanding a 20 percent of his son’s earning for his maintenance. Gideon Kisira Cherowo from Biirunda in Trans Nzoia claims that his 48 year-old son Washington Chepkombe Cherowo abandoned him despite contribution to the son’s education to university level.
Papers filed at the Kitale High Court indicate that the son of Mzee Cherowo does not send him any money for upkeep despite him currently working at the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA).
Mzee Cherowo revealed that he has four children and his son is the only one who is currently employed.
“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,” the plaintiff said in a civil suit at the high court.
“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.” the aggrieved father said.
“I pray that since he has a good salary, I request 20 per cent of his salary to be given to me as the father,” Mzee Cherowo pleaded with the court.
The conclusion of the case will be precedent-setting considering that upkeep is mostly reserved for the minors and there is no clear directive on how adult children should take care of their parents.
Mzee Cherowo attached a testimony from one of his other son David Masyek Cherowo who maintains that his brother should indeed part with a portion of his salary for the upkeep of their father. The petition was filed on November 17.
“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,” David Masyek Cherowo said in the statement.
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