30 years after buying land, we have been denied rights to transfer it to our name
My in-law wants me out of his land which he exchanged with mine
October 12, 2020
I am waiting for eviction from my husband’s land
October 12, 2020
When MzeeMelkizedekOnditi married his second wife, Pamela Masitsa, he decided not to settle with her at the home of his first wife in Asembo, Rarieda Sub County.Onditi bought a two acre parcel of land at Nyabanda A village in Nyawita Sub Location, Bondo Sub County in 1966.Unfortunately, Onditi died in 1998 before he could put up a house in the land.“At that time, we were living in a rented house in Bondo Town. And before he was buried, the relatives decided to build for me a house on the land,” said Masitsa who was born in Western Kenya in 1962.
Though by this time, the land had reduced to one and a half acres. Masitsa claimed that when her husband went to fence off the land before he died, it bordered the gate of one of the relatives of the land seller, and there was negotiations to surrender half an acre so as to avoid fencing off the gate of the relative, as it is against the Luo tradition to block the entrance to someone’s home.
But all this time, the seller, Maurice Obiero failed to surrender the title of the land to facilitate the transfer to MrOnditi.“Every time we inquired, Obiero would say that the title was with a Mr Fred Odinga, to who had also bought a portion of Obiero’svast parcel of land,” said Masitsa, claiming the original registration of the land showed it was parcel number 841.
But Masitsa said something strange happened one day. Auctioneers visited her home, claiming that MrOdinga had defaulted some loan, and the land was part of the collateral, and that they had gone to claim it.So she approached Obiero to clarify on the matter, but Obiero insisted that those were just talks and that the land belongs to Masitsa’s husband.But till now, Obiero had become dodgy, and is yet to give Masitsa the title deed so that the land can be transferred to her name.
To make matters worse, there are claims that Odinga may have transferred the entire parcel of land to his name, hence dispossessing not only Masista, but also Obiero and his siblings who had inherited the over five acre of land from their parents.“My interest is to get the truth about the land, so that we can get our rightful portion,” said Masitsa who fears that should the matter not be sorted out soon, her three children may be rendered landless upon her death.
Masitsa contacts: 0748858538
