A section of Siaya county widows are up in arms against the wave of losing their lands to their brothers-in-law and neighbors after losing their husbands.
Image: By Lameck Baraza
Widows in Siaya county are up in arms against losing their lands to their brothers-in-law and neighbours in inheritance rows.
Area Maendeleo ya Wanawake chair Patricia Apoli complained that most widows in Siaya have lost their lands and are kicked out of their homes by in-laws.
She gave an example of Angeline Okumu who was kicked out of her land in Usonga in 2008 by a neighbour claiming to have bought the land from her late husband.
Administrators say they are aware of many such cases.
Okumu said the parcel had no title and the husband sold part of the land to process the document but died before the process was complete.
She said the neighbour took advantage of the man's death to claim the land.
He proceeded with the process and changed the title to his name.
In 2008, the widow received an order from a Siaya court directing her to vacate the land.
Okumu said she was surprised when the letter from court threw her out of her land and after inquiring she established that the court verdict was reached after she unknowingly failed to appear in court.
“When I went to inquire from the court I was told they had summoned for my appearance more than thrice but I was kept in the dark and the decision was already made,” Okumu said.
Okumu the mother of four said she watched as her house was destroyed under the watch of the police officers after the court ordered her to vacate.
Another widow from Siaya Township Pauline Okoth also narrated how she has been forced to live with a relative after her entire 2 acres parcel of land was sold by the bother-in-law.
Okoth said the land was registered to their father-in-law and when the husband died the bother-in-law processed land documents and sold the entire parcel without involving her.
According to Sherlyn Adhiambo from Siaya Muungano Network, she regretted that most of the widows’ are discriminated against on matters of land.
Adhiambo said they have come up with the organisation to champion the rights of women and tame such vices in society.
She said as an organisation they are geared towards sensitising women on matter of land and ensure there is a gender desk at the land registrar office to handle such cases.
“The gender desk will tame corrupt deals at the land offices where most of the widows’ said they gave up on land issues due to heavy kickbacks demanded by the office bearers,” Adhiambo said.
Simon Olwendo, the area chief said he is aware of such cases but asked widows to be vigilant and immediately report to authorities when their husbands die.
Olwendo said they have managed to help a few widows who come into reported the demise of the husbands early.