Man disowns father in Eldoret succession case

In a shocking turn of events, a man disowned his biological father in a bitter succession court battle over the control of more than Sh500 million estate that was left behind by the late Kireger Kutto in Uasin Gishu county.

The deceased who was 99 years and a prominent dairy and cereal farmer left behind four widows, namely Sarah, Rebecca, Mary and Esther and 27 children.

He owned hundreds of acres of land and prime plots in Burnt Forest, Ziwa, Sergoit areas, Uasin Gishu.

Jonah Rutto has accused Philip Kutto, whom he refers to as a brother and not father, for sidelining him in the distribution of their late father’s estate.

Kutto and his young brother Daniel Kiplagat had been granted letters of administration to run and manage the vast estate of the deceased who died interstate 19 years ago.

Court documents

Rutto jointly with Anne Chepkorir claims in the court documents filed before Justice Reuben Nyakundi of Eldoret High  Court that he is entitled to 80 acres of land that forms part of the deceased’s estate.

He averred that his father died interstate leaving behind adopted and biological children and that he is among the children the deceased took care of through his second wife Rebecca since childhood under Nandi customary law.

Rutto said the second widow (Rebecca) was never blessed with children of her own as she was barren.

Jonah claimed that his father died before effecting transfer of the said portion of land to him. “We have been illegally and maliciously excluded as beneficiaries in the estate of the deceased by virtue of his adopted children,” he argued.

Material facts

He lashed out at administrators of the deceased’s estate of concealing material facts to the trial court with the intention of disinheriting them, hence leading to miscarriage of justice.

Rutto reiterated that unless appropriate orders are issued in the best interest of justice, they risk losing their only share of livelihood and investment.

But in a rejoinder, Kutto said that to the best of his knowledge the appellant was never one of the children of late Kireger Kutto, whether adopted or biological as alleged in the application he filed in court.

“The two are not entitled to any portion of the deceased’s estate as they are neither children, beneficiaries nor dependents of the deceased. They have no rights to lay claim over the deceased estate,“said Kutto.

According to Kutto, at no time did his son Jonah Rutto become an adopted child of the deceased as he alleges in his court documents.

He added:” I personally raised Jonah until when he attained the age of maturity/adult. As for the second objector, she is unknown to me as  well as the entire family of the late Kireger Kutto.”

As for the second widow Rebecca, he claimed that she was his step mother who only had one child called Sarah Chemeli adding that at no time did he see her stay with an adopted child.

“Upon death of our step mother Rebecca, the family came up with her eulogy listing all her children including step children and nowhere were the two, Jonah and Chepkorir mentioned as children of the said widow as they allege.

The matter will come for further direction on May 21.