Sh3.5b land case pushed due to petitioner's health issues

The High Court in Eldoret adjourned a succession case pitting two co-wives Tapyotin Talai and Irene Talai over a 1,650-acre land in Uasin Gishu County.

This after one of the petitioners failed to testify due to health reasons.

Tapyotin, 90, who was wheeled into the court, could not give her witness statement when the case came up for hearing on Monday afternoon since she was not in good health.

She was too frail to lift the Bible and swear when it was handed to her by a court clerk, prompting her lawyer Ms Rukiya Akinyi to ask Justice Stephen Githinji for five minutes to have a word with her.

After the consultation, Ms Rukiya requested the court to allow Tapyotin's daughter Ms Nancy Talai to replace her, a request that Justice Githinji declined.

“We cannot have her replaced since she is both an administrator and a witness in the case,” he said.

Mr Michael Omusundi, the counsel representing Irene, explained to the court that Rukiya should consider using the Mental Health Act through a miscellaneous application to deal with the issue.

Ms Rukiya did not object but said she would look into the matter.

The tussle started in 2012 when Mr Kibor Talai, a former colonial era chief of Lelan/Kapyego location in Marakwet, died. He had been ailing from 2000.

His death sparked a succession row pitting Tapyotin and her co-wife Irenei, 54. The women are fighting over their husband's 1,650 acres of land worth Sh3.5 billion at the current market rate.

The case will be heard on July 1 and 2.