• Seventeen children, including the former DPP and four widows, have reached an out-of-court agreement on how to share the estate
• Accredited mediator Dennis Magare chaired the meetings where the family agreed to end their differences
Image: MATHEWS NDANYI
The family of former DPP Phillip Murgor has finally resolved a 24-year court battle over the Sh2 billion estate of former Nyanza PC Charles Murgor.
Seventeen children, including the former DPP and four widows, have reached an out-of-court agreement on how to share the estate.
When senior Murgor died 24 years ago, he left a vast estate, mostly land and businesses, in Uasin Gishu and Elgeyo Marakwet counties.
He left behind four widows and 17 children. They are Selima with five children, Hannah (two children), the late Christine (six children) and Dinah (four children). Philip is the firstborn son of Christine.
The succession dispute was finally settled through three dialogue sessions, involving all family members in Eldoret.
Accredited mediator Dennis Magare chaired the meetings where the family agreed to end their differences. Justice Olga Sewe, who has been handling the case, had urged them to settle the dispute out of court in the interest of their unity.
She said the siblings should agree on how to divide the property, cautioning that the legal battle had taken long and could cause deep-seated hatred.
“I urge you, as members of one family, to give mediation a chance. It will not only restore unity in the family but also produce results that will be mutually agreeable to all of you,” the judge said. The family heeded the advice.
No sibling was willing to give the exact details of what they agreed on, but the former DPP confirmed they had agreed on the way forward.
“Our issue is well dealt with, and we are happy as a family,” Murgor said.
The property in dispute includes 250 acres in Turbo and 1,400-acre Kalyet farm in Moiben, Uasin Gishu.
The family was also feuding over a 212-acre Chebenyinyi farm and several prime plots in Eldoret town, Uasin Gishu, and Iten town, Elgeyo Marakwet.
Some family members sought court orders to be included in the sharing of Kaptabei and Chebenyinyi property, arguing that they had been sidelined by the estate administrator.
Edward Murgor, who shares the same mother with Philip, filed the suit on behalf of the late Christine’s children. “We were sidelined in a move that was unjustified and malicious,” Edward had said.
He argued that the Kalyet farm should not be part of their father's estate because it was bought by his late mother with a loan from the Agricultural Finance Corporation.
But their stepsisters and stepbrothers had wanted the land shared out.
George Murgor, the administrator of the 250-acre Kaptabei and 212-acre Chebenyinyi farms, said Edward and his siblings should not demand a share of the two parcels.
“We agreed to surrender the 1,400-acre Kalyet farm to Phillip and the others, but they took us to court demanding shares in the other property,” he said.
Other properties that have been at the centre of the family feud include several prime plots in Eldoret town, Uasin Gishu county and Iten town in the Elgeyo Marakwet county.
The court was also treated to dramatic moments during the hearing of the succession battle when Philip accused his stepmother Selina Kimoi and her daughter Elizabeth Komen of practising witchcraft to instil fear and defeat justice in the succession dispute.