•Some women from Murang’a said they have struggled to file for succession as they are unable to raise the funds needed.
•The women said the high costs have caused conflicts amongst families as family members disagree over inheritance.
Image: ALICE WAITHERA
The government has been urged to reduce the cost of succession that has left many families in poverty after the death of spouses or parents.
Consultation with lawyers for cases to be filed can cost Sh5000 which many say is unaffordable.
Some women from Murang’a said they have struggled to file for succession as they are unable to raise the funds needed.
The women said the high costs have caused conflicts amongst families as family members disagree over inheritance.
Eunice Wanjiku said she is the firstborn in a family of five and is expected to follow up on the succession as her younger siblings are financially unstable and are unable to contribute.
Her mother died last year.
Wanjiku said when she consulted a lawyer, she was asked to pay Sh 50,000 for her case to be pursued.
“I am a farmer with meagre earnings and a single mother. I could not raise the money and neither could my siblings so we just left it,” she said.
The situation is replicated in hundreds of homes as cases of those who are unable to pay for lawyers’ services drag for years in courts.
Virginia Mwangi, a widow, said she lost her husband three years ago and many in her situation are forced to abandon their marital homes due to their inability to fight for their property.
Many, she said, are victimised and their property is taken away as their husband’s siblings become hostile and disown them.
“The environment at home has become very unfriendly, many widows need help to inherit their husbands,” Mwangi said.
Petrah Njeri said widows are stigmatised by society and have nowhere to turn to for help.
She said many are sexually assaulted but opt not to report it due to shame.
As they fight to inherit their husbands, many give up and choose to start their lives afresh elsewhere due to the many challenges they face with their in-laws.
“They scavenge for food and funds to support their children. Their lives change once they lose their partners,” she said.
Kariuki Kanyingi, a member of Lift A Kenyan Foundation, said the state should be responsible for helping families, by making the inheritance process easy.
Kanyingi said widows are vulnerable and require support to continue with their normal lives because disinheritance affects their children’s future.
“Let us stop stigmatising widows, embrace and support them,” he said.
Ahadi Kenya chief executive Stanley Kamau said his organisation is working with a team of lawyers to help widows get justice and acquire what is rightfully theirs.
Kamau who had met hundreds of women in a legal aid clinic, at Gatura shopping centre in Gatanga, said in-laws make it a nightmare for widows to file for succession.
He said husbands’ siblings confiscate the death certificate to deny widows the chance to inherit their husbands.
Kamau said the lawyers will help the women follow up on rogue lawyers who withhold money awarded by courts after successful cases.
“We are warning lawyers who fail to hand over money to their clients, we will name and shame them, we are coming after them,” he said.
This, he said, has caused many families to live in agony and asked the Law Society of Kenya to reign in such lawyers who defraud unsuspecting Kenyans.
Kamau donated maize, wheat flour, rice and cooking oil to widows and people with disabilities.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris