Several attempts have been made to advance women's land rights through comprehensive constitutional and legal reforms.
In 1998, Nagib Shamsan’s grandfather, a prominent businessman in Busia, passed away, leaving behind a lot of property in different parts of the country, including Eldoret, Busia and Kakamega.
The businessman, who was also an army officer for the British government, had strategically married three wives to safeguard his extensive property in the event of his sudden demise. Collectively, the three wives had borne him 12 children. Among the children born to the second wife was Nagib’s mother, the late Rukia Ali.
“After my grandfather passed on, the male children began to work on succession, the children of the first wife wanted to give themselves preference because they felt they were the rightful heirs,” said Nagib in an interview with DN2 Property.
But the other children were not happy with this, therefore to avoid wrangles within the family, they sought for arbitration at the Eldoret Muslim Mosque Committee, a Kadhis Court.
Cultural barriers
“Due to religious and cultural barriers, only the male children were allowed to attend the mediation process. No woman was involved,” explains Nagib.
The committee recommended that an estimated valuation of the property be done, for it to sub-divided equally amongst the 12 children.
“Because the female children were not there, the males signed the agreement on their behalf. Still, the eldest male child was not satisfied, so he decided to file another case at the Eldoret high court,” said Nagib.
The high court instructed the parties involved to present the deliberations at the Kadhis Court before it. Sensing that their schemes would be exposed, the brothers decided to leave the case hanging and go back to the Kadhis Court.
“My grandfather had rental properties, farms that produced cane for export to Uganda, posho mills, a slaughterhouse and timber yards. The brothers further subdivided what belonged to their sisters amongst themselves,” said Nagib.
Part of the property that was subdivided at the Kadhis Court was a house in Eldoret that actually did not belong to the grandfather, but to his wife, the late Rukia Ali’s mother. While she would not challenge the subdivision of her father's property, the decision to subdivide what belonged to her mother amongst the brothers did not sit well with her, as she was not related to them.
“At 68 years old, my mother travelled to Eldoret to seek justice. Due to customs related issues, her efforts became so frustrated, and in 2007, she died of stress-related illnesses, several kilometres away from her home in Mombasa,” said Nagib.
Even though her mother did not want her children to become involved in the succession matters, Nagib felt that as the first-born child, it was his duty to continue fighting for justice on behalf of his deceased mother.
He joined the Kenya Land Alliance, an organisation that advocates for land reforms as well as Ilishe Trust, an organisation which champions for women’s land rights, to assist him in his quest for justice.
“When my uncles realised that I had started to follow up on the matter, they started to dispose of the property through a Kadhis Court order. As we speak today, they have sold all the property, except the Eldoret one,” said Nagib. After more than a decade of suffering, in 2013, the Eldoret court finally ruled that the property belonging to Nagib’s grandmother should be transferred to his late mother and her two sisters, for them to start collecting rent.
“We have spent a lot of money on lawyers, on travel and on accommodation. Even if we were to sell the property and divide the money amongst our families, it will not be enough to justify those expenditures,” said Nagib.
For decades, disadvantaged members of the community, including women, youth and persons living with disabilities have suffered land succession injustices at the hands of their male relatives in silence. As a result of advocacy from civil rights organisations, several attempts have been made to advance women's land rights through comprehensive constitutional and legal reforms.
Article 60 of the Constitution stands as a cornerstone of this progress, guaranteeing equal rights to land ownership, with complementary legislation such as the Land Act, Land Registration Act, and the Law of Succession Act further strengthening women's rights to own and inherit land.
“These legal frameworks represent important milestones in Kenya's journey toward equitable land governance,” says Faith Alubbe, the CEO of the Kenya Land Alliance (KLA).
Kenya Land Alliance Chief Executive Officer Faith Alubbe.
Despite these legislative achievements, Alubbe, who is also a human rights lawyer, points out that substantial barriers continue to impede full implementation of these reforms.
Systemic discrimination remains deeply embedded in land administration processes, while cultural norms often override legal provisions, particularly in rural and traditional communities.
“We are in a patriarchal society where women are still treated as second class citizens. The constitution stipulates that I can inherit land from my father, but when I start the process, I am told that I got married elsewhere, I should go and inherit my husband,” says Alubbe.
The limited implementation of existing laws further compounds these challenges, creating a gap between legislative intent and practical reality. This implementation deficit is particularly evident in areas where traditional practices intersect with modern legal frameworks.
“Kenya has very good policies, the challenge comes at enforcement. People who are mandated with certain statutory obligations often use their offices to enrich themselves,” explains Alubbe.
Institutional challenges within the land sector further complicate the governance landscape. Entrenched traditional practices, widespread corruption, and insufficient operational capacity have created significant obstacles to effective land administration.
“From their own pockets, communities are expected to register and facilitate surveyors from the ministry to mark their lands. The number of people living under the dollar in Kenya has gone up, so to expect the communities to self-resource is being over ambitious,” says Alubbe.
The slow pace of reforms and resistance to modernisation efforts have hindered equitable resource distribution, while historical land injustices continue to cast a long shadow over the sector.
“We need more demonstration of goodwill from the current administration when it comes to enforcement of the law, transparent and accountable enforcement of the law should come right from the top,” posits Alubbe.
Communities affected by historical land injustices face particular difficulties in seeking justice, often having to rely on underfunded institutions like the National Land Commission (NLC), which struggles to fulfill its mandate effectively. Land injustices also remain largely unresolved due to ambiguous legal frameworks, limited institutional capacity, and prolonged judicial processes.
“The judiciary is attempting to simplify the process of succession, but as we know, even if there is no contention, the legal process in Kenya is very lengthy, adversarial and expensive,” says Alubbe.
Faith says that government agencies need to make sure that communities understand how succession works, as many are living on lands that bear their deceased relatives names not because they do not want to do succession, but because the process is complicated.
“Several government agencies impact the succession process. One has to have a death certificate, burial permit, a woman has to understand her rights as a spouse, so there is a need for duty bearers to deliberately go out and disseminate that process,” remarks Alubbe.
Jael Omunyangoli, a Member of the County Assembly of Kakamega, says that community engagement forums such as administrative barazas and nyumba kumi can be made use of to help women understand their rights. With over 60 per cent of Kenyans able to access smartphones, Jael, who is also the chairperson of the Women’s Caucus in Kakamega, says that the authorities can also make use of digital tools to sensitise women on land rights.
“We have seen this work with platforms such as Haki Ardhi which is being used by women in Kakamega, Taita Taveta and Trans Nzoia to report the issues they face, then lawyers from KLA call back and handle the cases pro bono,” says Omunyangoli.
While significant progress has been made in helping women understand their rights at the township level, the MCA says that more engagement needs to happen at the grassroots level.
“We need to see more resource support from both the county and national governments, as well as development partners that have an interest in land. Once we have proper succession, then we avoid unnecessary disputes in the community,” notes Omunyangoli.
Shamala Immaculate, CEO of Trans Nzoia Women Leaders Organisation, agrees, adding that though devolution was meant to increase access to information amongst the people at the grassroots level, marginalisation continues to be an issue in the country.
“We need to be very serious with civic education. The county government act provides for civic education but there are no budgets, so how do we conduct civic education with no budgets,” said Shamala.
She says that lack of sensitisation has seen many women at the grassroots make costly mistakes, as many of them are not even aware of their right to buy and own land, let alone inherit it.
“Most women would rather take a loan and give it to their husbands to buy land, which they will write under their name. When he sells it, the woman will say he is stealing, but the court will rule otherwise because the land was written under his name,” said Shamala.
She urges the church and the civil society, which have a special connection to women, to work closely with the government in educating disadvantaged groups like women, youth and persons living with disabilities on matters to do with land.
Abdi Billow, a member of KLA from Wajir, says that there is need to educate not just the women, but the authorities involved in succession as well, including the arbitrators, who often are not qualified enough to handle such matters.
“Most of them do not know how to do valuation or verification of documents,” stated Billow.
Corruption
Raphael Kapiyo, founder of Uhai Lake Forum Life, says that there is a need to have clear monitoring and evaluation systems within government to curb systemic corruption in the sector.
“If corruption is encouraged from the top, the chief down here would not be scared of breaking the law. We need to start seeing people being held accountable,” notes Kapiyo.
Having clear monitoring and evaluation will help to address the challenge of land cartels who often collude with government officials to defraud innocent victims of their land.
“We should consider chapter six of the constitution which is very clear on integrity. It is very disappointing when someone is caught red-handed and they get away with it, or are transferred to another area to continue with their impunity,” says Kapiyo.
Nagib Shamsan.
Nagib, the chairman of Ilishe Trust, urges men to do joint titling with their wives and daughters to safeguard them from suffering at the hands of their relatives when they die.
Joint titling can also safeguard the parties involved from incurring unnecessary expenses such as lawyer fees needed while transferring property, as the succession will be automatic.
“Unfortunately, most men do not like to disclose their property because they assume that when they die, the wives will remarry, or if a small dispute arises in the marriage, they will ask for a divorce, forcing them to split their property in half,” stated Nagib.
The activist is also calling on women, particularly those in leadership positions, to use their influence to help the women at the grassroots who do not have access to resources, to get justice.
“Interestingly, a lot of top lands officials are women, including the cabinet secretary, yet they do not seem to be doing enough to address these issues,” said Nagib.
