A family in Kilifi is fighting to divide a 12.4-acre piece of land worth around Sh72 million.
Six brothers are in court where four of them accuse their two siblings of trying to disinherit them from the land, left by their deceased father.
Before he died, Nyale Mwango, had in 1981 sued a man he had sold two acres from the 12.4 acres.
However, the buyer, who had only paid about half of the agreed amount, went ahead and allegedly fraudulently acquired a title deed to the whole 12.4-acre parcel.
Nyale died while the case was still ongoing but won it posthumously in 2014, after two of his sons, Kiti Mwango and Khamis Mwango, had been enjoined to replace the deceased.
However, after the court revoked the title deed to the 12.4-acre land and directed that it be written under Kiti and Khamis’ names in trust, the two secretly went ahead and subdivide the land into three with the intention to sell it off.
Now, the other four brothers, Reuben Tinga, Joseph Mwango, Kassim Mwango and Edward Kazungu, have returned to court accusing Kiti and Khamis of trying to disinherit them.
Through Angeline Omollo and Associates Advocates, they informed Justice Evans Makori at the Environmental and Land Court in Malindi that Kiti and Khamis are planning to sell their father’s land to a third party without consulting the rest of the family.
They want the land divided equally among the six of them and have title deeds in their names.
"We have conducted numerous meetings at the area chief’s and county commissioner’s offices, but unfortunately, these meetings have not been fruitful," they said in court documents.
According to the documents, the 12.4 acres of land was allegedly secretly subdivided into three sections.
“Kiti and Khamis have been dubious on their side by breaching the trust they had for the estate of the deceased and further went ahead and sold the same in an effort to disinherit us from the family inheritance which our father had obtained through a court judgment,” the four brothers said.
They said they are now living like squatters on their father’s land and want the court to stop their other two brothers from subdividing or selling the property to third parties.
They also want a declaration that they are beneficial owners of the entire land, and another order directing for equal subdivision of the entire land to the six brothers as the beneficiaries of the estate of their late father.
“We pray for a judgment against the defendants for an order directing the Land Registrar to issue title deed in favour of the six brothers in equal share and the revocation of the three tittle deeds for the three subdivisions carried out on the 12.4 acres,” they said.
Justice Makori has directed the four to serve these documents on their two brothers and other parties in the case, who are to responds within 14 days of service.
Kiti and Khamis are yet to file their responses.
