Court to rule on disputed Sh3.5b will of late Chief Kibor Arap Talai

Nancy Talai testifying before Justice Reuben Nyakundi at the High Court in Eldoret. [Lynn Kolongei]

The High Court in Eldoret is set to determine the validity of a contested will allegedly written by colonial-era paramount chief Kibor Arap Talai.

The will details how his extensive estate, estimated to be worth 3.5 billion shillings, should be divided among his beneficiaries.

The court is expected to announce its decision next month, revealing whether it will uphold or dismiss the will of the late tycoon.

This case has been at the center of a decade-long legal battle between his second wife, Irene Talai, and the children from his first wife, the late Tapyotin Talai.

Justice Reuben Nyakundi will deliver the highly anticipated judgment on September 22, 2025.

In their court filings, Tapyotin's children have accused their stepmother, Irene, of taking the majority of the estate for herself, using the disputed will to justify her actions.

Conversely, Irene asserts that the will was indeed left behind by her husband and counters her stepchildren's allegations, claiming that it is a forgery.

She has opposed her stepchildren's request for a forensic examination, arguing that they are attempting to deny her rightful share of the property.

According to Irene, her husband was of sound mind when he expressed how he wanted his multi-billion-shilling estate to be distributed among his family members.

"The deceased gifted me the prime land near Moi University, where several commercial business premises are located, before he died.

There's no way I will share it with the first wife," she stated during the succession case hearing.

Talai, who was also the Ford-Kenya party's Uasin Gishu branch chairman, passed away in 2012 at the age of 95, leaving behind two widows and eight children.

Tapyotin died five years ago, and her granddaughter, Caroline Jepkogei, has since taken her place in the succession case, challenging the purported will, which she claims was not authentically written by her husband.

During his testimony three years ago, retired Chief Inspector Daniel Gutu, a forensic document examiner at the DCI headquarters in Nairobi, revealed that the signature on the questionable will appeared to be forged.

The expert report on the contested will was submitted as evidence in court.

Court documents indicate that Talai left behind over 2,000 acres of prime land in the Kesses area near Moi University's main campus, as well as a large ranch where he cultivated trees and raised sheep for sale in the Lelan area of Elgeyo Marakwet County.

Other properties include developed plots and commercial buildings on a 100-acre plot opposite the main campus.