Win for Mzee Kibor in land row with sons

Mzee Jackson Kibor, the man who grabbed headlines for divorcing his two wives of more than 50 years in 2018 and for allegedly shooting at his own son, yesterday floored his sons in yet another court battle.

The 86-year-old fabled guest speaker at the men-only conference sighed in relief after the lands court quashed a case in which his six sons had sued him over ownership of a 1,250-acre parcel.

Mr Elkana Kipleting, Mr Evans Kipkosgei, Mr Eric Kipchumba, Mr Raymond Kibitok and Mr Edwin Kipkoech had laid claim to the land, with some citing it as inheritance from their father.

The court ruled that the Uasin Gishu farmer-cum-politician was the rightful owner of the parcel in Soy Constituency and ordered the sons to vacate.

Mr Kibor had moved to court four years ago blocking the transfer of the land to his sons over what was termed as unsolved family dispute over ownership of the property.

In the long awaited ruling, Justice Antony Ombwayo said documents produced in court showed Mr Kibor was the legal owner of the land.

“The upshot of the above is that the plaintiff has proved his case on balance of probability and I therefore do declare that he is the rightful owner of the original parcel known as LR No 8300 and 8301,16815 and LR 16896/A and therefore an order directing Uasin Gishu land registrar to nullify and cancel purported and illegal consolidation and subdivision of the land as well as issuance of title deeds to defendants,” ruled the judge.

The court further directed the affected sons to vacate the land within 150 days failure to which they will be kicked out.

Justice Ombwayo delivered the decision virtually from Kisumu following his transfer from Eldoret last year.

'FRAUDULENTLY SUBDIVIDED'

Mr Kipleting and his five brothers were found to have fraudulently subdivided and processed title deeds to the land before selling it to some other people.

Mr Kibor managed to convince the court to strike out the documents showing that the land was transferred to his sons, and order that they surrender the titles to court authorities.

While testifying, Mr Kibitok told the court that he was allocated 250 acres by his father and that the sub-division was done by Mr Kibor on December 2, 1994 in presence of a surveyor.

He said Kibor also allocated 20 acres to Samitoi Girls Secondary School, an acre to Seiyo PMCA Church and 22 acres for the construction of a dam.

Another son, Mr Ezekiel Kibor, said his father attempted to shoot him when the old man found him ploughing a section of the disputed land.

“It is unfortunate that my father has changed the tune after giving us our lawful inheritance by going to an extend of ordering my driver and workers to vacate the land,” the son told the court.

SHOOTING INCIDENT

He rekindled an incident where Mr Kibor was sued to attempting to shoot him following wrangles of the land ownership.

Mr Kibor was later acquitted after withdrawal of his gun as a licenced firearm owner.

“This boy is conman lying to court I only removed the gun because my life was in danger as he attacked me while armed with a machete. I reported the matter at Soy Police Station,” Mr Kibor told court.

Two years ago Mr Kibor dominated media after divorcing his two wives of more than 50 years.

In December 2018, through lawyer Stanley Kagunza, Mr Kibor successfully divorced his third wife Naomi Jeptoo on what he termed as denial of conjugal rights.

He also divorced his other wife Josephine Jepkoech Kibor, 69, in the same year after accusing her of influencing her children to gang up and rise against him.