KITUO CHA SHERIA BLOG

Mr. John Mukoma had decided to be generous enough to donate 2 acres of his land to his brothers as part of the inheritance share his late father was to divide among his sons. Mr. Mukoma, who had already acquired some land next to his father’s saw it fair to contribute to the share of land his brothers, who had none, would get. His generosity was however to be abused by his brothers who decided to turn against him and demand for more from their brother after the death of their father.

Things got worse when his brothers turned to violence against Mr. Mukoma and got beaten to near death prompting him to seek legal redress to solve the issue. Mr. Mukoma looked for a city lawyer to help him file a criminal suit in 1998 but would later drop him after he left the country.

Mr. Mukoma would later hear of Kituo Cha Sheria on radio in 2001 and sought the organization’s help. After visiting Kituo and having his case taken up by Kituo, the plaintiff sought orders from the court barring his brothers Michael Kabiti, Josiah Mburu and Patrick Njubu as 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd defendants from laying claim to the parcel of land and stop the encroachment. He was able to prove to the court that he was the rightful owner of the suit parcel of land No. Gatamaiyu/Kamburu/714. The defendants claimed that Mr. John Mukoma was only holding the land in their trust, a claim that was challenged by the plaintiff.

After a long court case characterized with notable no-shows from the defendants, John Mukoma would later breathe a sigh of relief after the court granted his wishes on 7^th April 2003 declaring that the plaintiff had proven that he owns the land and does not hold the suit property in trust. The magistrate also questioned why the defendants would wait for the death of their father to claim.

However, the defendants would later file an appeal seeking to set aside the judgment of April 2003. The application was canvassed before Justice Nambuye J (as she was then) and a ruling was delivered on 24^th April 2008 where the initial judgment of 2003 was set aside and the defendants were granted an opportunity to appear in court and present their evidence. However, the matter came up severally in court and the defendants together with their advocates were always absent even after being served with court papers. In view of this, the plaintiff’s evidence was not challenged and the court asked for further supporting documents.

The case was therefore heard in the absence of the defendants and the court upheld that Mr. Mukoma was the rightful owner of the parcel of land while also finding the defendants guilty of trespass and ordered awarded the plaintiff KSH. 500,000 in damages. The judgment was delivered at the Environment and Land Court at Thika by Judge L. Gacheru on 24^th May 2019.

Mr. Mukoma expressed his gratitude to Kituo and particularly to Mr. Kivungi, Advocate Mwariri and Boniface Muinde for walking with him throughout the court case period. Indeed, justice is the tolerable accommodation of the conflicting interests of society, and I don’t believe there is any royal road to attain such accommodation concretely- Judge Learned Hand.

By:-

RCKM

Kituo Cha Sheria