Anguish for Kisii women as land disputes turn deadly

Women in Kisii County continue to bear the brunt of land conflicts, with some paying a heavy price for fighting for what they believe should rightfully belong to them.

They have exposed cruelty and inhumane treatment as disputes over land ownership take ugly turns, making them primary victims.

Some have paid with their lives while others have been maimed. Close relatives are the main perpetrators.

In the last three years, Kisii has witnessed bizarre incidents of killings of women over land.

Most people, including women, have stuck to the notion that land and other property belonging to the family is owned by men.

Customary practices in the highly patriarchal community generally grant women secondary land rights, through their relationships to a male relative, making it difficult for women to inherit land in their own right.

While the 2010 Constitution gives women equal rights with men on inheriting property within a family unit, this reality is yet to be embraced by the Abagusii community, which remains culturally conservative and patriarchal.

The most affected are widows and unmarried women who end up being single parents.

Lawyer Danston Omari says the trend is worrying and needs to be addressed urgently.

He says the killings are now targeting women in a region where lawlessness reigns supreme. The killers plan meticulously and when they strike, they do not miss their targets.

“Despite these incidents happening in various places and at different times, the weak legal sanctions on the perpetrators have emboldened more people to kill with impunity whenever disputes on land occur,” says the Nairobi-based lawyer whose origin is in Nyamira County.

Mr Omari notes that there is an upsurge of unexplained murders in the larger Gusii region.

The latest case involves a widow who was murdered three weeks ago in a gruesome manner.

Agnes Moraa, 65, was strangled using her nightgown and later set on fire.

Only part of her hair caught fire before it miraculously went off.

Her killers had reportedly placed a gas cylinder under her mattress, set it on fire with the hope that the inferno would engulf the house and lead to a gas explosion.

But all these did not happen as planned, leaving the planners of the heinous act exposed, though life had already been lost.

Moraa is yet to be buried and her family says they will not inter her remains until her killers are brought to book. Her remains have been preserved at the Ogembo Sub-County Hospital mortuary.

No suspect has been arrested.

The Nation team visited the family at their Mogonga home in Kisii County last week.

Villagers continued to stream in, even though her burial date had not been set.

Moraa, a mother of seven, resided alone in her two-bedroom house.

She had been living in fear after several physical and verbal attacks by some relatives and neighbours who were claiming her piece of land.

Grievous bodily harm

“There has been a land tussle between us and some of our in-laws. The in-laws have the support of a local administrator,” said Jackline Omwango.

Ms Omwango explained that the matter on the disputed land boundaries had been reported to the provincial administration and government agencies and no conclusive action had been taken.

At one time, the widow was attacked inside her house. At the time, they clobbered and slashed her, causing serious grievous bodily harm. She was treated, but being a religious person, she chose not to pursue the issue.

Lawyer Omari, on behalf of the widow’s brother, has written to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), requesting speedy investigations into the murder of Moraa.

“We have been instructed by Mr Sam Mongera to write to you concerning an attempted cover-up in the wake of his sister’s murder, the late Agness Moraa Nyagonde, by a well-known person working in cahoots with some enforcement officers. It is our clients’ hope that you shall call your officers in order and engage a willing competent team to investigate the murder,” said the letter to the DCI.

Kisii County Police Commander Francis Kooli, however, says they have received the report on the incident and investigations are underway.

“Land is a very emotive issue in Kisii and we are urging locals to embrace the legal dispute resolution mechanisms,” said Mr Kooli.

Cases of land fraud

However, even as the cases continue to be reported, the population pressure that is threatening the community’s survival has unfortunately not been addressed by successive political leaders in the area.

In many rural communities in Kisii, siblings share as little as 30 feet by 100 feet parcels of land. This explains why cases of land fraud have become the order of the day in Kisii.

The 2019 population census placed Kisii in the seventh position, with a population of 2.7 million.

Land use indicates that the farm holding size in the region is typically small, ranging from 0.5 to 4.5 acres.

Although there are no specific statistics to show how many women have been killed over land, evidence on the ground shows that they have been on the receiving end in the recent past.

Police statistics, however, indicate that at least 80 percent of the murder cases in Kisii are land-related.

An incident last year in which a woman had her hand severed by a relative in a family land dispute is a microcosm of the risks women face in this densely populated region.

Eunice Nyakwara was attacked by her brother-in-law and lost her left hand. Ms Nyakwara also sustained deep cuts in her right hand as the brother-in-law attempted to kill her.

Proper sentences

In yet another case, Esther Bosibori, a pastor based in Suneka township, was abducted from her Bokeira home and brutally murdered by land-hungry criminals who wanted to take her land by force.

While the killers were arrested and the case is dragging on in court, in most cases of this nature, those who get prosecuted escape with light sentences as the courts continue to struggle with handing down proper sentences to prevent such cases.

Catherine Sarange was attacked in her home in Jogoo estate and killed in a land dispute. Like in Moraa’s case, her remains were also yet to be buried as relatives demanded justice.

Sarange met her death after she went missing, apparently abducted by her killers. Her body was found a month later in a sewage manhole wrapped in a polythene bag.

Sarange’s body has been lying at the Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary for more than three years. Her suspected killers were only arrested when the Nation published her story two years ago. The case is still dragging in court.

Another victim, Tabitha Barongo, was also killed over land.

Villagers torched seven houses in revenge attacks after the woman was allegedly killed by her stepsons in a land dispute in Riabotenene village in Kisii.

The Ministry of Lands admits land grabbing, a big problem in Kisii, has reached epidemic proportions, but officers have tried to restore sanity in the last three years.

Steve Mokaya, the Kisii County registrar of lands, says there are numerous cases involving widows, orphans and the elderly who have become easy targets of land-grabbing.

Esnas Nyaramba, a gender activist, says that women are more vulnerable because after their husbands die, for whatever reasons, they become targets of deprivation either from their brothers-in-law or the land-grabbing cartels.

“Abagusii people do not believe in the constitutional requirement that women be allowed to inherit property, more particularly from their parents,” said Ms Nyaramba.

“The killers fear no law. They do not believe that even if they are caught, they will be sufficiently held accountable.”

[email protected]