Kosgey siblings seek out of court settlement in Sh700m estate sharing dispute
The family of Mzee Kosgey arap Moita have disregarded a written Will allegedly authored by their father in 1996 after some of the children contested the validity of the document.
Siblings of former powerful Kanu regime minister Henry Kosgey are willing to end an inheritance row surrounding their late father’s Sh700 million estates, through the Alternative Justice System, the Eldoret High Court heard on Wednesday.
Five of the 29 children of the late Mzee Kosgey arap Moita have objected to the available succession plan to the estate in dispute.
The late Mzee Moita left a vast estate that included several acres of prime land under commercial maize and tea crops farming in Nandi, Uasin Gishu, and Nakuru counties.
The deceased, who had five wives, also had more than 3,000 shares in Kibwore Tea Company Limited in Nandi Hills.
His children have requested the court to give them time to resolve the inheritance dispute outside the court.
The family had disregarded a written Will allegedly authored by their father in 1996 after some of the children contested the validity of the document, prompting the matter to move to court.
Presiding Judge Reuben Nyakundi allowed a request by the siblings to meet out of court and work out a way to resolve the distribution issue fairly and amicably and agree before coming before him in court next week.
Cornelius Bungei and Reuben Kosgey who are administrators of the estate through their lawyer Isaac Sambu, had asked the judge to allow the family to solve the matter outside court for the sake of the family's dignity.
“Your lordship, my clients are willing to end this dispute in honour of their departed father, and on that note, they are requesting to be allowed to sort out a few issues outside the court before reporting back to you on how they have agreed on the matter,” Mr Sambu told the court.
When the matter came before the then Presiding Judge Hellen Omondi who is currently a Court of Appeal Judge, she had revoked the Will allegedly left by the late Mzee Kosgey after it emerged that it was forged.
The court heard that the deceased was suffering from a stroke by the time he was said to have written the Will, thus he was not able to talk to his lawyer to give instructions on how he wished his estate to be shared amongst his children.
Justice Nyakundi directed the family to appear before him on August 8 with a report on how they have agreed to share their departed father’s estate.
