Help! Cries widow kicked out by in-law in land tussle
Rose Rotich, a widow and mother of six, watches as hired youths demolish her house in Kipsoen village, Uasin Gishu County last week, following a court order.
What you need to know:
- Mother of six from Uasin Gishu County, is crying for justice after she was kicked out of her matrimonial home by her late husband's brother-in-law.
- Ms Rotich alleges that she owned 26 acres but the in-law, using documents she says should have been her husband’s, sold the land to its current nine acres.
- Her pleas to the goons to allow her look for an alternative place to settle her young family first, bore no fruits.
A 47-year-old widow has been rendered homeless after goons invaded and demolished her home following a land tussle with her husband’s brother-in-law.
Rose Rotich, a mother of six from Kipsoen village in Uasin Gishu County, is now crying for justice. She alleges that her husband’s brother-in-law Elias Kiplagat Busienei, acquired the land illegally.
She is the third wife of Johana Malakwen, while Mr Busienei is the brother of Mr Malawken’s first wife.
Ms Rotich alleges that she owned 26 acres in the area, but Mr Busienei, using documents she says should have been her husband’s, sold the land to its current nine acres.
She says Mr Busienei had earlier on accepted to own four acres of land and allow his in-laws to stay on the remaining five acres, before he came for Ms Rotich’s five-acre piece.
“My husband acquired this land in 1978 through shares awarded to squatters at Kaptuktuk Settlement Scheme. Since he was working with Kenya Railways in Mombasa, he entrusted his brother-in-law as a caretaker. The brother-in-law used my husband’s national identification and other documents to transfer our property to himself,” the tearful widow narrated to nation.africa last week when we visited her at her demolished home.
Council of elders
Ms Rotich said efforts by the council of elders to convince Mr Businenei to surrender the land to her fell on deaf ears.
Mr Businenei moved to court seeking eviction order upon presenting documents he allegedly acquired through forgery, indicating he bought the land from Mr Malakwen.
Hired youths demolish Ms Rotich's house that stood on the five acres she resided on.
Her pleas to the goons to allow her to first get an alternative place to settle her young family, bore no fruits - they demolished the structures under the supervision of police officers from Tembilio Police Station.
According to the widow, her husband who died in 2009, had genuinely acquired 26 acres and engaged his brother-in-law as a caretaker.
Ms Rotich lamented that her husband’s trust in his brother-in-law had cost her dearly.
“The trust has now rendered his family homeless. Where will I take my six children after losing everything,” wondered Ms Rotich.
She sought the intervention of the land tribunal, which had settled the matter by directing her in-law to respect the initial agreement that allowed her to occupy five acres following a decision by council of elders and other relatives.
Mr Busienei moved to court in 2014 seeking eviction orders as he claimed to be the genuine owner of the land. The tearful widow said that due to financial challenges, her efforts to appeal the ruling are yet to bear fruits.
“I have sold nearly everything we owned as a family to fight for this land and now I have no money to facilitate an appeal against the High Court ruling,” narrated the widow.
The case was heard and determined by the Eldoret Land and Environment Court, which issued the eviction order.
In the cold: Ms Rotich who alleges that her husband’s brother-in-law acquired their land illegally, ponders her next move.
Ms Rotich is now appealing to Chief Justice Martha Koome and her Women Representative Gladys Boss Shollei among other leaders, to help her.
Though she had planted maize on the farm, she has been forced to leave it behind.
Reached for comment, Mr Busienei said he was only following the court ruling.
“We went to court and we got a ruling. If the respondent feels aggrieved, they have the option to appeal. We will face them in court, if they appeal. Right now we are happy with the ruling,” he said through his lawyer Adalo Bittok.
A local elder Hosea Serem Tirop, said the deceased was the legal owner of the land and his brother-in-law was only a caretaker who capitalised on his position to short-change him by allegedly forging documents.
Mr Serem said they were perplexed as elders, to hear that the brother-in law had used ‘dubious’ means to evict the widow.
Local OCS Robert Tum, said police were only implementing a court order thus bear no blame.
“As police officers, we are not party to this matter. We only came in to implement the order after confirming it was a genuine, valid court document,” said Mr Tum.
The widow’s lawyer Morgan Musundi, condemned the eviction saying there was no need to rush with the eviction order when his client has indicated she will appeal the ruling.
At the same time, Eldoret Centre for Human Rights and Mediation (CHRM) has indicated it will help the widow.
“As a human rights organisation, we are going to peruse the files in court and see how we can come in to push for justice for this widow,” said Nick Omito CHRM Chief Executive Officer.
