Court declines to grant widow’s wish in land tussle

By MURIMI MWANGI

Nyeri, Kenya:  A mother of three suffered a blow after the High Court sitting in Nyeri declined to order her childless co-wife to relinquish part of her land to her children.

Susan Njeri, a mother of three and her childless co-wife Beth Wanjiku had been embroiled in a dispute over the four acres left behind by their late husband Ngunjiri Muturi.

The dispute started in 2007, after a Kigumo Senior Resident Magistrate presiding over the land succession case directed that each wife get two acres.

Ms Njeri appealed the verdict a year later at the Nyeri High Court, claiming the trial magistrate had ignored the fact that unlike her co-wife, she had three children entitled to land inheritance.

She asked the court to issue orders for the land to be subdivided into five parcels, two for the co-wives, and the other three for her children.

She said Ms Wanjiku being childless, should only be allotted one acre.

She claimed the magistrate erred in law, as the contentious land was valued at Sh400,000, which exceeded the maximum limit of Sh100,000, which could legally be entertained by a subordinate court.

While objecting the appeal, Wanjiku told the court that her co-wife was being dishonest, as she had already been allocated a two-and-a-half acres at Kinangop, which was enough for her and her children.

Justice James Wakiaga, declined to order fresh subdivision of the land into five portions, as contended by the appellant, saying the entities entitled to the suit property were the wives, “the number of children notwithstanding”.