The children of former prominent Eldoret farmer and politician Jackson Kibor have staged a spirited court battle to block his widow Eunitah from controlling his Sh16 billion estate.
They accuse Eunitah, who is Kibor's youngest and fourth widow, of persistently ignoring court orders that directed the status quo in the estate be maintained.
Kibor's sons and daughters have engaged at least 10 lawyers to oppose Eunitah’s fresh applications in court seeking to stop them from accessing some of the assets.
Lawyer Maina Mathai told Justice Reuben Nyakundi that granting such orders to Eunitah would amount to giving her more rights to the estate than other beneficiaries.
"Such orders would amount to sidelining some of the beneficiaries, while giving others freedom to act as they wish," Mathai said.
Justice Nyakundi is hearing a succession case in which Kibor's 29 children and three widows have rejected a will he left behind, arguing it was fake.
Nyakundi had ordered that the will be subjected to forensic examination to ascertain if its genuine.
Some of Kibor children claim the will was doctored by Eunitah to favour herself and her children in the distribution of the estate.
Yesterday when the matter cane up in court, Kibor’s daughter Loyce, protested that Eunitah was collecting rent from buildings without involving other family members.
They have also accused the widow of illegally taking over the more than 320 acres Mafuta farm after Kibor's death. They also claim her matrimonial home was in Chepkoilel and not Kabenes.
Loyce was in court together with hers sisters Magdaline and Betty, and their brother Albert.
They say Eunitah got married when Kibor already had the wealth and she cannot seek to control the estate.
Eunitah had two weeks ago moved to the High Court seeking protection, saying together with her four children she had been evicted from her matrimonial home.
She said her family was facing threats of being evicted from the Mafuta farm given to her by Kibor before his death.
However, Loyce and her siblings argue that Kibor never gave the land to Eunitah.
In an application filed under a certificate of urgency, Eunitah and her children claim that Kibor’s elder sons and daughters have ganged up to frustrate her and ensure she loses all the inheritance given to her by Kibor.
She argues that her step-children have acted in breach of an active court order restraining any of the beneficiaries from intermeddling with the estate.
Kibor left behind a vast estate valued at more than Sh16 billion, which is at the centre of a vicious succession battle involving the widows and children.
The estate includes more than 6,000 acres in Uasin Gishu.
Eunitah has accused her step-children, led by Philip, Magdalene, Betty, Loise, Samwel, David, Albert and Stephen, of contempt of court by interfering with three parcels of land in the estate, with the intention of evicting her and her four children.
She has also accused her step-children of cruelty and abuse, claiming that three months after Kibor’s burial, her step-children unlawfully evicted her and her children from her Kabenes matrimonial home.
Eunitah wants the court to review its preservation orders issued in November 2022 to specify the land each household occupies, saying doing so will protect her and her children.
She also wants the eight respondents and any extended family member restrained from trespassing or interfering with the properties she occupies and from collecting rent from the rental units left behind by Kibor.
Justice Nyakundi asked the parties to be back in court on June 10 for further directions.
