The High Court in Eldoret has thrown out a contested will purported to have been written by colonial era Paramount Chief Kibor arap Talai, which his second wife Irene Jeptanui had relied on to allocate herself lion shares of the deceased’s vast estate, estimated to be worth
more than Sh3 billion.
At the time of his death on August 2, 2012, the deceased left two wives. The first, now deceased, Tapyotin Kibor, whom he married in 1947 and with whom they had five children while the second, Irene Jeptanui, who is at the centre of the contested will has three children.
Talai left behind a multi-billion shillings estate spread in Uasin Gishu and Elgeyo Marakwet counties comprising vast agricultural lands, commercial properties, motor vehicles, farm equipment and financial assets.
In his verdict, Justice Reuben Nyakundi declared the purported will dated February 13, 2006 null and void following a forensic document examiner’s report dated November 24, 2025 which concluded that the signatures on the will did not match authenticated signatures of the deceased.
“The court notes that the document examiner from the DCI headquarters Kiambu road in Nairobi Chief Inspector Daniel Gutu’s, now retired, testimony was not challenged through cross-examination by the objectors leaving this expert evidence uncontroverted,” stated the
Judge.
“The forensic document examiner with the DCI testified that after examining the signatures on the will against known signatures of the deceased, it was his professional opinion that the signatures were made by different authors, meaning Kibor arap Talai did not sign the
will in question,” he added.
According to the Judge, Tapyotin and the deceased worked together between 1947 and 1981 during which period they acquired most of the properties that now form the vast empire.
The Judge also ruled that the second wife married the deceased in 1987 after most of the properties had already been acquired.
The court’s ruling stems from a two-decade case filed by the deceased’s first wife who passed away six years ago challenging the validity of the will in which her co-wife had used to allocate herself more wealth at the expense of other beneficiaries.
She asked the court to subject the said will to forensic document examination at the DCI headquarters in Nairobi to determine its validity after terming the document as forgery.
Following his demise, her daughter Nancy Talai took over the case and told the court during the proceedings that her father was a teacher before he became a paramount chief while her mother was a cook at the same college their father taught in Elgeyo Marakwet County.
Nancy, who retired from the public service two years ago, convinced the court that her father was ailing and that he was not mentally fit to have written the purported will as claimed by her step mother.
But in her testimony before the Judge, Irene argued the will which was left behind by her late husband was valid contrary to claims by her step children that it was forgery.
She objected to the application by her accusers that the said will be subjected to forensic examination saying the move would deny her the rightful shares of the multi-billion shillings property.
According to Irene, her husband was mentally sound when he gave instructions on how he wanted his multi-billion-shilling estate distributed among his family members.
“The deceased gifted me the prime land near Moi University on which stands several commercial business premises before he died. There is no way I will share it with his first wife,” she said during the proceedings.
Justice Nyakundi has consequently directed feuding parties to file the comprehensive proposed modes of distribution of the deceased’s vast estate among the beneficiaries within fourteen days.
“All parties have been given fourteen days to file a proposed mode of distribution of the late Kibor Arap Talai’s estate detailing the exact acreage, identification of current occupants and users of each property, including the basis and duration of such occupation,” ruled the Judge.
In his conclusion, Justice Nyakundi directed that the matter be mentioned before him on October 2, 2025 to confirm compliance and further orders.
By Ekuwam Sylvester
