Edna Awuor Otieno, the 22-year-old woman who claims to have a child for late world marathon record holder, Kelvin Kiptum, says she is seeking recognition for her child after a Kenyan court denied her request for a DNA test before Kiptum was buried on February 23.
Despite the setback and the attendant backlash from Kenyans, Otieno says she remains determined to establish paternity for her child and engage directly with Kiptum’s family.
Before Kiptum was buried, Otieno had, through her attorney Joseph Ayaro, approached the High Court in Eldoret with a plea to extract DNA samples from Kiptum’s body for paternity testing.
The request, according to the filing, was directed towards establishing the fatherhood of Otieno’s baby purportedly fathered by Kiptum.
However, the presiding judge, Justice Wananda, in his ruling, cited public interest surrounding Kiptum’s burial and suggested alternative legal avenues for her to prove paternity, and subsequently denying the application.
But Otieno says she is undeterred by the verdict and judicial system’s decision, vowing to pursue the case and open dialogue with Kiptum’s family.
“We started living together in 2019. Kelvin was present at the hospital when our son was born, and he even named him Andrian Cherop Kiptum,” she said in an interview on Wednesday.
She added that her quest for legal acknowledgment of her son’s paternity stems from a desire to quell public speculation and ensure the child’s rightful place within Kiptum’s lineage.
“I went to court so that we could have a DNA test and stop the public from asking questions, but the court said I went too late. I now want to have discussions with Kiptum’s family so that the child can get recognized by the family,” she explained in the interview.