Eldoret: The High Court in Eldoret has invalidated a contested will allegedly written by colonial era Paramount Chief Kibor arap Talai. This will, which was relied upon by his second wife, Irene Jeptanui, to claim a significant portion of the deceased’s extensive estate, estimated to be worth over Sh3 billion, has been declared null and void.
According to Kenya News Agency, Justice Reuben Nyakundi delivered the verdict after a forensic document examiner’s report, dated November 24, 2025, concluded that the signatures on the will did not match the authenticated signatures of the deceased. The court noted that Chief Inspector Daniel Gutu, a now-retired document examiner from the DCI headquarters on Kiambu Road in Nairobi, provided unchallenged expert testimony that the signatures were made by different authors, indicating that Kibor arap Talai did not sign the will in question.
Chief Kibor arap Talai, who passed away on August 2, 2012, left behind a multi-billion shilling estate, which includes vast agricultural lands, commercial properties, motor vehicles, farm equipment, and financial assets spread across Uasin Gishu and Elgeyo Marakwet counties. At the time of his death, he had two wives. His first wife, Tapyotin Kibor, married him in 1947 and they had five children together. She passed away six years ago. The second wife, Irene Jeptanui, who is central to the contested will, has three children.
Justice Nyakundi highlighted that Tapyotin and the deceased acquired most of the properties between 1947 and 1981, before the second wife married the deceased in 1987. The court’s ruling follows a two-decade legal battle initiated by the deceased’s first wife, who challenged the validity of the will that her co-wife used to allocate herself more wealth at the expense of other beneficiaries. Her daughter, Nancy Talai, took over the case after her mother’s death, arguing that her father was not mentally fit to have written the purported will.
In opposition, Irene maintained that the will was valid and argued against subjecting it to forensic examination, which she claimed would deny her rightful shares of the estate. She insisted that her husband was mentally sound when he outlined his estate distribution plans, and that she had been gifted prime land near Moi University by the deceased.
Justice Nyakundi has now directed all parties to file comprehensive proposed modes of distribution of the deceased’s vast estate among the beneficiaries within fourteen days, detailing the exact acreage, current occupants, and users of each property. The matter is scheduled to be mentioned before the Judge on October 2, 2025, to confirm compliance and issue further orders.
