Cry for justice: Nanyuki widow’s nightmare in battle with swindlers over family land
Consolata Wacheke at her mabati house in Mirera village, Laikipia County, points to the iron sheets that remained after her son's house was demolished in 2023. The widow is crying for justice following a plan by a relative of an influential politician to evict her from her family land.
What you need to know:
- Consolata Wacheke and her children faces eviction from her late husband’s estate.
- She has pleaded with the government to intervene and help her retain her land.
When John Mutua Mutunga died in April 1992, he left what he considered a sufficient inheritance to support his young family.
Prior to his death following a sudden illness, the farmer had purchased a three-acre prime parcel on the outskirts of Nanyuki town, Laikipia, currently valued at over Sh20 million. But the family has yet to benefit from this investment, with the land now turning to be a source of misery. Were Mutunga to wake up from his grave today, he would be shocked to find the sorry state in which his wife Consolata Wacheke and her seven children live.
Consolata,74, resides in a two-roomed iron sheet house built by the Anglican Church of Kenya faithful in Mirera village. She is sickly and, owing to advanced age, cannot perform casual work for pay, hence she is never sure of the next meal until a well-wisher comes knocking. Low level of formal education, crooked lawyers and bestowing her trust in cunning land brokers appear to have conspired to throw her into a tunnel of poverty, despite having sold more than half of the initial family land.
She has nothing to show as proceeds from the several pieces of land and is on the verge of being evicted from the less than an acre she occupies and where the remains of her husband are buried. One of the land buyers, a close relative of a prominent Laikipia politician, is laying claim to a section of the land occupied by the Consolata family. So determined are the land swindlers that they have been flaunting title deeds to the widow, her children and other buyers, threatening them with eviction. It is unclear how they obtained the title deeds when the legal land transfer process has yet to be undertaken.
While Consolata, in a sworn affidavit, maintains that she only sold the land to five buyers, a total of 12 people are now laying claim to the property. She is puzzled by these developments and is begging for answers from the government. “As we speak, there are additional seven people, all strangers to me but who are now laying claim to a section of the land we occupy with my two sons. I have sought assistance from the authorities who have promised to send a government surveyor so that those claiming the unsold section can explain how they acquired it,” says Consolata, staring blankly into the skies.
“My plea to the government is that they fulfil my wish in the New Year as they have promised. I am growing older and weaker each day and would be glad if an amicable solution is found before I die.”
The suspected land swindlers are using all means to achieve their goal, including seeking the company of police officers when visiting the disputed land. Around September last year, the widow’s two sons had their houses demolished by hired goons, one of which was torched in broad daylight.
“About 50 men and motorcycles came one morning and ordered me out of my house and then proceeded to demolish it. They also cut down some trees and then fenced the area with barbed wire, saying they had been hired by a new landowner to do the work,” recalls Wilson Muchoki, Consolata’s son.
The incident was reported to the authorities, but no one has been arrested or prosecuted, with the family suspecting that the politician is using her influence to shield the criminals. But why should the family be living as beggars after selling part of their prime property with not even a decent house to show?
Consolata says she was duped by sweet-talking land brokers who never gave her the right share of the proceeds. The same middlemen discouraged her from involving her children from the deal “so that the process would be fast”.
Eventually, the little she got was not even enough to build a family house, with the widow saying it was spent on feeding and educating the children. She continued living under a dilapidated roof – a leaking timber house before the church faithful came to her rescue.
“The land broker could take me to a lawyer’s office and ask me to give consent for transfer by use of a fingerprint. I obeyed the instructions, only to realise later that the money I was eventually given was far below what we had agreed, but there was nothing I could do, having appended my signature on the agreement.”
Consolata recalls that she was paid as little as Sh25,000 for a quarter acre and Sh35,000 for half an acre of the land located at Sweetwater’s on the Nanyuki-Ol Pejeta Road. Before signing the documents, she was promised that the buyer would give her additional money, which was never forthcoming.
“Though we were above 18 years when she started selling a section of the family land in 2009, she chose not to involve us and only came to us when she realised she had been swindled. Since she has never been to school, the land broker would give her wads of notes in Sh50 denomination and asked her to go count at home,” says Jane Mutua, Consolata’s daughter.
Jane and her children live in a rented house in the neighbourhood. She does casual jobs and though bitter with her mother for keeping them out of the land deals, she is hopeful that the government will intervene to help them get justice.
John Kareri, one of the five genuine land buyers, says he has also become a victim of the swindlers. “My immediate neighbour is asking me to vacate the section of the land I have occupied for 14 years, claiming he has legal ownership documents of the land, yet he acquired the land the other day. This problem will only be solved by a government surveyor,” he says.
For two years now, John has been assisting Consolata’s family to get justice, moving from national government administration officers, the lands offices in Laikipia and Nairobi and to the police station where he has recorded a statement about threats issued to him and to the ageing woman. He was issued with Occurrence Book numbers.
“The government surveyor visited us on December 17, but all the people claiming the land failed to show up though they had been informed. We are hopeful they will be present when the surveyor announces next visit so that this problem can be solved and the elderly woman can have peace going forward,” John says.
