Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

The family of the late Uasin Gishu tycoon Jackson Kibor wants a judge who has been presiding over the decade long succession case over the control of his multi-billion shillings estate to recuse himself from the suit.

Led by one of the deceased’s children, Loice Kibor, the family has asked Justice Reuben Nyakundi to recuse himself from the suit saying they lack confidence in his handling of the matter.

Through their lawyer Maathai Maina, the family members are now seeking to have the matter allocated another Judge for fair hearing and determination of the suit.

“We have instructed our lawyer to write to the court indicating that as a family we have lost confidence in the manner in which Justice Reuben Nyakundi is handling our succession case,” said Loice.

Beneficiaries contested

The family is embroiled in the vicious battle over the distribution of their late father’s Ksh16 billion property.

The will purportedly left behind by the late tycoon was to be subjected to forensic analysis examination after a section of the beneficiaries contested its validity alleging that it was forged.

“Apart from the will, there are other underlying issues that have made us doubt whether we are going to get justice in this matter, we feel that the judge is taking sides and that is why we want his withdrawal from the matter altogether,” stated Loice.

However, the late Kibor’s youngest widow Eunita Kibor said she has not seen any mischief in the handling of the succession case by the Judge as alleged by her stepchildren.

She said it was their right to raise concern if they are not satisfied but regretted that such issues are likely to derail the speedy hearing and determination of the suit.

“Personally, I don’t have issues with the manner in which the court is prosecuting this matter, what Loice and other members of our family are doing is to delay justice for the rest of us,” added Eunita.

While presiding over the matter when it came up for hearing in January, Justice Nyakundi issued an order for the forensic examination of the Will to establish its validity.

The decision was informed by a move by a section of the late Kibor’s family members who contested its validity claiming that it was forgery.

Justice Nyakundi, had instructed Eunitah and one of the executors of the Will, to surrender the original copy of the document to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters on Kiambu Road in Nairobi for forensic audit.

Succession battle

This was after the deceased’s family members including his surviving two widows, Naomi and Josephine had accused Eunitah of tampering with the document to favour her interests in the estate.

The estate which is at the centre of the succession battle comprises more than 5,000 acres of agricultural land, commercial plots, and movable assets spread Rift Valley, Nairobi and Mombasa counties.