The late Jackson Kibor, the former de facto men’s conference chairman, walked tall.
In Eldoret town, his tallness and welcoming demeanour made him an unmistakable figure. He died on March 16, aged 88.
It emerged after his death that the old man once joined the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church for an unknown number of years, and even got baptised in 2001, before later backsliding and getting a second baptism in the African Inland Church.
When he was not at his farm, he would personally take his tractors to a rusty garage near MUSCO Towers where he engaged mechanics in hearty conversations the whole afternoon.
At his Kabenes home in Uasin Gishu, his imposing house is located at a vantage point on his expansive farm, overlooking the home of his second wife Naomi Kibor, which is located across an uncultivated section.
A well-kept grave where his first wife Mary Kibor was interred sits in one corner of the compound.
He spared his youngest wife Yunita in the divorce series that sparked admiration among young men terrified by domineering wives and girlfriends.
According to his second widow, Naomi, Kibor was always full of surprises, like shifting from the African Inland Church to an Adventist and back.
“Mzee became an SDA member and was even baptised in the church in 2001. A year later, he married our youngest co-wife. He again returned to AIC and was finally baptised in 2020,” says Naomi.
She describes Kibor as a strong man, who, unlike other old men his age, never needed a walking stick.
Naomi, who got married to Kibor in 1975, says the controversial farmer and politician was misunderstood many times.
According to Naomi, his decision to divorce her and co-wife, Josephine was not surprising to her as it was to the public.
She says the divorce was part of his tactics to silence them (his women) before sharing his properties to the children without any interference by the wives.
Naomi says her husband would base all his decisions on the Bible, although, she adds, Kibor never forced any of his children or wives to go to church.
“He (Kibor) divorced us and then came back and told us jokingly that – ‘I divorced you (the wives) but I never chased you out of my properties’.
“My late husband would tell me that children ought to be disciplined, failure to which they can easily squander wealth that parents have struggled to accumulate just like in the case of the prodigal son in the Bible,” Naomi explains.
“He was a no-nonsense disciplinarian and each of his children tasted the good and the hard life. I thought he didn’t love children, but when I asked him why he was hard on his children, he said being tough would help them be responsible in future,” Naomi said.
According to Yunita, the youngest wife, Kibor took his battle with Covid-19 in stride, and walked around Eldoret town and his home with oxygen for nearly two years.
Yunita says his aggressiveness and approach to life changed when he contracted Covid-19.
“I celebrate Mzee because he changed his ways before he passed on. He called the entire family on February 27 and forgave each one of us, the wives, and the children,” she says.
Yunita says the late Mzee (Kibor) loved her and spent most of his time with her.
“He held my hand and I held his during his final moments,” she concludes.
In late 2016, a video emerged of the late Mzee Kibor dancing to Christina Shusho’s Napenda Nione, alongside Yunita. Kibor displayed alluring dancing moves during the event that appeared like a New Year night vigil.
Immediately after his death, his eldest son Philip Kibor revealed that his father had 28 known children.
Philip said there were more children, and asked them to show up and introduce themselves to the family through him.
“My father didn’t go to school but educated all of us. Twenty-four of us are university graduates.”
“Apart from being a disciplinarian, he practiced politics even at home. The feuds that you heard about were just a creation of the media. He would take us to court and after the battle, we would meet to eat and drink. He was a typical politician,” Philip explains.
He said his father gave each of his sons 200 acres of land and 100 to each of his daughters before he died.
In 2019 when he addressed the first Men’s Conference in Eldoret, Kibor told men that he was still strong and working hard in his farm in Kipkabus and Kabenes in Uasin Gishu and another one Kitale. He was 86 then.
Kibor, who had then been made the de facto Men’s Conference chairman, arrived in style, armed with a pen and notebook.
“When you make money, be careful not to allow your children to squander it, and never use your hard-earned wealth to drink excessively,” Kibor told those in attendance.
During the conference, he told men to divorce women who make their lives difficult.
“This meeting is good because it’s for men only. It is good for us to follow what the Bible says and the Bible says when anything troubles you, you remove it. Many of you are married or intending to get married. The woman you marry is not your sister, you married her because it is Biblical and for the purposes of getting children,” Kibor said.
He continued: “There is no blood relations between you and your wife, but the two of you agree to stay together because of love, but when the love fades, everyone should go back to where they came from.”
He encouraged men to marry more wives, saying they (men) can’t stay in troubled marriages when they have worked hard to accumulate wealth.
Kibor started off as a driver, transporting potatoes to local markets and to others in Uganda told men that he was still a good driver and would take control of his car from Eldoret to Mombasa, only taking a short rest in Nairobi before spending the night in Mtito Andei.
