Judge: Corporal loses estate share case

An Eldoret court has ruled that a 55-year-old police corporal cannot be included as a beneficiary of a Sh700 million estate left behind by his late grandfather.

Justice Reuben Nyakundi’s ended a seven-year succession feud with judgment, saying he was unable to place Stanley Kibet Kogo in the lineage of the deceased Alfred Kaplamai Bor’s family.

But Kogo, a father of two, earned a reprieve after the judge ruled that he will be entitled to a share of the estate through his mother.

Bor, who was a large-scale farmer and businessman, died eight years ago without leaving behind a will. He had three wives and 21 children, among them a High Court judge.

At the top of the list of Bor’s properties are 400 acres of prime land adjacent to Eldoret’s Southern Bypass, and several undeveloped and developed plots in the town and its environs.

He also held several shares in Standard Chartered Bank, Kenya Breweries, KCB Bank, Singoi Holding Limited and Wareng Sacco, motor vehicles, tractors, livestock and wheat planters..

Justice Nyakundi ruled that including Kogo on the list of beneficiaries of Bor’s estate would amount to double allocation as he will be taken care of through his mother, Zippy Kalamai Bor, alongside other grandchildren.

But he concurred with Kogo’s argument that he was raised and taken care of by Bor until his death.

He further ruled that each of Bor’s 22 children are entitled to an equal share of his estate.

The judge declined to grant a plea by the administrators of the estate on the mode of distributing of the estate.

The administrators wanted the estate to be distributed among Bor’s three households, a position that was contested by some of his daughters.

In the succession case, Kogo sued his uncles – Emmanuel Kiptoo Lamai and Benjamin Kiptoo Lamai – for discriminating against him in the distribution of the estate.