A petition has been tabled in the National Assembly seeking to reform the country’s succession laws, amid concerns of property remaining tied up for decades.
There are growing concerns that millions of acres of land and other productive assets remain registered in the names of deceased persons due to lengthy and costly inheritance processes.
National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula said his office is in receipt of a petition from former Taita Taveta governor John Mruttu and 22 others calling for urgent reforms as far as the administration of estates in the country is concerned.
The Speaker stated that the petition was submitted in accordance with Article 119 of the Constitution, which grants citizens the right to petition Parliament on matters within its authority.
“The petitioners state that succession procedures under the current legal framework are complex, costly and inaccessible to ordinary citizens,” the Speaker said.
If adopted, the proposed reforms will be expected to significantly alter how inheritance matters are handled in Kenya and unlock billions of shillings worth of land and other assets that have been tied up in unresolved succession cases for decades.
The petitioners said that the assets tied up in unresolved inheritance cases cannot easily be used as collateral for loans, transferred to beneficiaries or developed for productive purposes, which has subsequently contributed to increased land disputes, pressure on the Judiciary and inefficiencies in property markets.
The petitioners have since urged Parliament to initiate a review of the Law of Succession Act to introduce simplified procedures for small estates and allow administrative settlement of uncontested inheritance cases.
They also want an expansion and decentralisation of probate services across the country to make them more accessible to Kenyans living outside major urban centres.
Article 119 states that every person has a right to petition Parliament to consider any matter within its authority, including to enact, amend or repeal any legislation and it shall make provision for the procedure for the exercise of this right.
The petition has since been referred to the National Assembly’s Public Petitions Committee.
According to the petition, the succession processes under the current legal framework are cumbersome, expensive and inaccessible to many Kenyans, resulting to delays, which can stretch between 20 and 40 years after the death of a property owner, a situation they described as unfortunate and in urgent need for reform.
They also stated that a substantial proportion of productive assets, particularly land, remain locked in the names of deceased persons because families are not able to complete succession proceedings.
Similarly, the petitioners have stated that the process involves multiple stages, including court filings, gazettement, legal representation, valuation and land registry procedures, all of which create barriers for many families seeking to transfer ownership of estates.
They regretted that the delays in succession have broader economic consequences, including limiting access to credit, reducing agricultural productivity and slowing investment.
Even as they acknowledged that succession is primarily governed by the Law of Succession Act, they stated that the existing legal and administrative framework has failed to provide affordable, timely and accessible services to ordinary Kenyans.
They made reference to international best practices, stating that countries which have adopted simplified succession procedures haveprotected the rights of beneficiaries.
