Kibor's fourth wife: I'm in charge of my husbands 1.5 billion property

 Eunita Kibor, forth wife and Naomy Kibor, third wife (right), comfort each other at Kabenes Kipsangui farm after the death of their husband mzee Jackson Kibor. [PHOTO: PETER OCHIENG]

Barely five months after the death of controversial politician and businessman Jackson Kiprotich Kibor, his youthful fourth wife Eunitah Jelimo, his children and ex-wives are locked in a fierce inheritance battle over his multi-billion shilling estate.

In a succession case filed in the High Court in Eldoret, Eunitah and her advocate Jonah Korir have tabled a Will directing how her late husband's property should be divided. Kibor's estate is estimated to be worth more than Sh1.5 billion. The property includes large tracts of land, commercial and residential plots in Eldoret, Nairobi and Mombasa, motor vehicles and farm machinery and company shares.

But Kibor's ex-wives Josephina and Naomi Kibor and their children are dismissing the Will as a forgery. Eunitah, 43, also wants to be the sole administrator of her husband's estate, claiming that she is the only widow of the late Kibor. In her petition, the widow said that her husband had made a written Will on February 27, 2021, a year before his death. She said the will was written before his lawyer and that the original copy could be availed in court whenever needed.

She also lodged a petition for grant of letters of administration of the estate, stating that her husband's Will named her as the executor of the estate. She added that the vast estate needed comprehensive administration, failure to which it would waste away.

"I am the sole surviving spouse of the deceased and therefore the first in order of preference to be appointed and issued the grant of letters of administration. The estate could waste away since the deceased's land over 2,000 acres has outsiders who are starting to encroach," said Eunitah in her petition.

Eviction from her matrimonial home and lands

Eunitah further accused her step-children who are the objectors in the case, of meddling with the estate and evicting her from her matrimonial home and lands.She has asked the court to adopt the Will she tabled in court saying that it reflected her husband's true wishes.

But step-children and their mothers, (Kibor's second and third wives whom he divorced in court) are having none of it. Naomi, who was Kibor's third wife, said that the Will could have been made out of fraud or coercion, noting that her late husband was critically ill at the material time and was not in control (of his faculties). She also claims that his signature was forged.

"On the date the Will is purported to have been written, the deceased was sick, having contracted Covid-19 in 2020.Save for the Deputy President William Ruto, who visited him, the deceased was not in a position to interact with other people or visit a law firm to write a will," claimed Naomi.Her statement was corroborated by fellow objectors (step-children) who argued that their father's purported Will was vague and inconsistent.

"On the day the deceased is purported to have executed the will, he was neither in the presence of the purported witnesses nor of any of the proponents of the purported Will. The will also purports to make bequests of property the deceased does not own or that are non-existent," said the objectors.

The children further accused their step-mother and her advocate of engaging in a scheme to waste and plunder the estate."It is strange how the advocate who prepared the Will constituted himself as an advocate and executor of the Will at the same time. The executor is seriously conflicted," read an affidavit presented by of one of the sons.

The children argued that their father's wishes earlier communicated to them by their father's advocate, the second petitioner, were different from the contents of the purported Will. For these reasons, the objectors asked the court to order examination of the Will by a government forensic document examiner from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). But Eunitah opposed the request, saying that it amounted to an abuse of the court process.

validity of the Will or signature

"The DCI cannot be involved in this matter as it is not criminal. If DCI wishes to investigate the validity of the Will or signature, let them lodge an appropriate application and lay proper basis before court," replied Eunitah.Jepchirchir Kibor, a daughter to the deceased, has also challenged her step-mother's petition, terming it as falsehood. She argued that her father had four wives (the first one deceased) and that he left three surviving widows.

She asked the court that each household be represented in the administration of the estate saying that each household was an equal beneficiary to the estate."The petition here is not in good faith but a scheme to access estate property to the exclusion of other beneficiaries. The petitioner cannot be trusted to administer and manage the estate," she argued.

Although Kibor maintained all his women on his various farms, he had divorced his two senior wives. In October 2017, an Eldoret court officially dissolved Kibor's marriage with his second wife Josephina Jepkoech, a woman he had married in February 1965.

Series of divorces

He claimed in his court papers that the 52-year-old marriage was irretrievable as the two parties were unwilling to resolve their differences amicably.He cited desertion, cruelty and disrespect while accusing Josephina of, among other things, squandering the family's wealth and blocking him from gaining access to the family home.

With the succession case in place, Josphina has asked the court to ascertain matrimonial property acquired during her marriage with Kibor, divide the property and have her portion hived off and registered in her name.

Mary Kibor, who was Kibor's first wife, died in 2010.Barely six months after divorcing his second wife, Kibor divorced his third wife, Naomi Jeptoo Kibor whom he married in 1975 under Nandi customary law. Kibor claimed that Naomi was cruel, hostile and had denied him conjugal rights and deserted their matrimonial home.

Kibor was a successful businessman whose rags to riches story is the stuff of legend. A politician of note, he was one of the few leaders from the Kalenjin community with the balls to be in the opposition when Kanu was the ruling party.The younger generations are however only familiar with the man they called "Chairman of the Men's Conference", a nickname he acquired after kicking out his older wives and putting a younger, hotter jiko in the house.