Trio claiming to be late Mzee Kibor's children file case seeking to stop April 1 burial

The late businessman Jackson Kibor outside the Eldoret Chief Magistrates' Court after he won a divorce petition against his estranged wife of 52 years in 2017 [Kevin Tunoi, Standard]

Three people claiming to be children of the late prominent politician Jackson Kibor have moved to court seeking to stop the burial slated for April 1.

The trio, Albert Elodanga Kibor, Elizabeth Chemutai and Joseph Misoi claim that the family of the late Mzee Kibor has failed to recognize them as legitimate children of the deceased and want to be involved in the burial arrangements of their patriarch.

In a case filed under a certificate of urgency before Eldoret Principal Magistrate Naomi Wairimu, the three want the court to issue them with a temporary injunction restraining Kibor’s family from removing Kibor’s body from the mortuary and burying him as scheduled.

They have cited Kibor’s fourth wife Eunita Kibor, the eldest son Philip Kibor and relative Richard Sile as the defendants.

The trio want the court to order that they be allowed to fully participate in the funeral arrangements and that the case be heard and determined before Kibor is buried.

“We are requesting the court to restrain the defendants/ respondents either by themselves, their relatives, agents or family members from removing and disposing of the body of Jackson Kiprotich Kibor, pending hearing and determining of this case,” reads the application tabled in court.

The applicants are also seeking an order for the collection of DNA samples from the deceased for analysis and comparison to determine their paternity.

In his supporting affidavit, Albert claimed that Kibor was in a relationship with his mother Jane Elondanga in 1978 and that he was sired out of the said relationship.

He claimed that Kibor recognized him as his biological son and that they interacted on several occasions during social and family meetings, and he was present next to his deathbed when he passed on at St Lukes Hospital.

He accused the burial organizing committee of acting in malice and excluding them from participating in the burial plans.

Chemutai also claimed that Mzee Kibor recognized her as his daughter, and she had been paying him visits in the hospital before his death.

She accused the burial committee of deliberately omitting her name from an obituary carried in a local daily.

Misoi who is the third plaintiff claimed that the deceased had a marital relationship with his Mother Philemon Misoi which resulted in his birth.

Misoi stated that he had been sidelined by failing to be recognized as Kibor’s biological son.

The court has directed the matter to be heard under a certificate of urgency on April 1.

“Following an application dated March 28 having been duly considered and is hereby certified urgent to be heard inter partes on April 1. Applicants to serve defendants by close of business on March 30,” ordered Wairimu.

Mzee Kibor, 88, died on Wednesday night, March 16, at St Luke’s Hospital in Eldoret after a long illness.

The family said that Kibor had been on medicated oxygen since October 2020 when he contracted Covid-19.