Man fought his entire family over quarter land for 37 years

 

Stephen Wang'ang'a has fought his entire family - his father, mother and two younger brothers - for the past 37 years over a quarter acre of land.

His father, mother and one of his bother died in the course of the long-running court battle over the 100 by 100 feet piece of land.

Wang'ang'a did not stop there. He went after the only living brother, Stanley Ngugi, over the property in Kiambaa up until the Court of Appeal. Ngugi begged his brother to allow him stay on the land.

In 1957, a 100 by 100ft parcel cost Sh200, the price of a kilo of sugar today.

But the same land today is worth millions of shillings.

Court of Appeal judges Asike Makhandia, William Ouko and Kathurima Mnoti noted the case by Wang'ang'a was a classical illustration of how Kenyans' appetite for land breaks up families.

"This appeal is yet another sad illustration of how the quest for land in Kenya easily trumps family love and harmony," the judges noted.

The dispute was first presented before a panel of elders, more than once. They were unable to settle it and thus the case spilled to the court.

Wang'ang'a was the registered owner of the property, which his father and subsequently his mother and siblings successfully claimed half share, arguing that he held it in trust for them.

Since then, the man has spared no effort to overturn the award in favour of his family members and to evict them from the suit property.

The dispute over the suit property was initially between the man and his father, Ephantus Njoroge Njuguna, now dead.

The late Njoroge filed the case before a magistrate's court in 1984, arguing that in 1957 he and the appellant's mother gave their son Sh200 to purchase for them a plot, but after purchasing the property, he refused to allow them into the plot.

On the other hand, Wang'ang'a claimed he bought it for Sh300, which he allegedly raised by himself.

While admitting receipt of Sh200 from his parents to buy the plot, he claimed to have used the money to pay school fees for his sisters.

The lower court, on April 7, 1984 ruled in favour of the father and ordered that the plot be split into two; one half for the man and the other for his father.

His father died in 1990 before transferring the land. It is then that a succession case was filed and his mother Salome Wanjiku was appointed the administrator. The man appealed before the High Court claiming that the land could not be divided as it all belonged to him. The case was however dismissed.

When Wanga'nga's mother also passed on, his brothers-Ngugi and John Gathara took over the land and the old war on who owned it was revived again in the magistrates court. The lower court ordered that he gives his brothers half the land.

In 2009, he went to the same court and asked it to order his brothers to pay him Sh4,000 for every month they had trespassed on the land since 1986 until but the case was dismissed.