Land row blocks man from burying wife two years on
Mr Nuturi Mwihia 72 from Lower Kakuzi village in Murang’a County whose wife (inset) has been lying in mortuary for two years owing to land dispute.
For two years, Mr Muturi Mwihia, 72, has been unable to bury his wife owing to a land dispute spanning 10 years now.
He cites the death of his wife and his inability to bury her for that long as most shameful moment for him.
"You can imagine the pain I feel, the shame that I go through every day as my dear wife, Anne Wanjiku, continues to stay in the mortuary...it is now two years, since she died and a skeleton now," he laments.
He says the mortuary bill that has hit Sh220,000 and, still counting, is not the big issue.
“The manly satisfaction I seek is ensuring that my wife is given an honourable send-off on the land that we both bought with our lifetime savings,” he says.
Trouble for Mwihia began in 2013 when he and his wife set out to buy the land in Lower Kakuzi village, Murang'a County, out of their savings after working at a coffee plantation in Kiambu County for 20 years.
"The deal was that we would part with Sh500,000 for the acre...The condition was that we first pay Sh400,000 and we commence the transfer process and once I got the title deed, I clear the balance," he said.
Mr Mwihia accepted the condition but once he paid the Sh400,000, his wife promptly paid the balance from cash she had received as dividends from a local bank.
"My wife was eager for us to get our own land after years of living in rent tenancy. I had not inherited any land from my parents since they were squatters too. My wife was excited that I had worked hard to enable her get a home," he said.
Immediately the seller, Mr Ngei Kimuyu, received the cash Mr Mwihia said that he changed his mind, sparking a dispute that has seen Mwihia lack a place to bury his wife when she passed away.
"I don't think there is a big deal in this. The land is still mine until that moment when I will have transferred it. I am still trying to make up my mind about this sale," Mr Kimuyu told the Nation.
Asked whether he did not feel remorseful that Mr Mwihia's wife is stuck in the mortuary for two years owing to lack of a burial site, he said; “Land matters are serious issues and we cannot use grief to make decisions about them".
Asked what then he seeks to achieve in this stand-off, Mr Kimuyu said: "Where in Murang'a County can you get an acre of land today at Sh500,000?"
He said the matter can be resolved very fast "if Mr Mwihia allowed me to sell the land at the current prevailing market value of about Sh1.5 million and I refund him his money so that he can exit my land".
Mr Mwihia says that he and his wife had hoped to move onto the land in 2015 and build a permanent house on it.
"I don't deny the fact that I was anticipating this move...this stalemate is normal around this place. That is how land dealers in Ithanga Kakuzi Sub-County behave. I had been warned by several brokers that once I paid the deposit, I should move onto the land and take control," he said.
Mr Mwihia says he knows of a dozen land buyers going through a dilemma similar to his.
"That is how land dealers behave in this sub-county. The cartels involvedin land fraud are assisted by administrators and the courts. Both the seller and the buyer are potential cons," he said.
Mr Mwihia said that his case is “just normal behaviour” in Ithanga Kakuzi property market only made more complicated by the death of his wife.
"My wife died in November 2021 due to depression-related complications owing to this conflict. Were it not that I have no other place to bury her, you would not have known about this conflict since it is normal news and a way of life here. People live by the law of the jungle," he said.
“Here in Ithanga, almost everyone is affected by land conflict. Titling here is messy and corruption-laden and since both the government and brokers have accepted it as normal. We just live a day at a time as it comes.
“The administration knows that I am in a dilemma over where to bury my wife. It is also aware of my aborted land deal yet it sits on the sidelines.
"I can go and buy a grave in a public cemetery and bury my wife, but that would be an act of surrender.
“I and my three grown-up children are united in demanding that the final resting place for our matriarch is on this disputed land regardless of how long, tedious and frustrating the process will take.”
Mr Mwihia said that there is a stakeholders' arbitration sitting slated for November 30 that brings together elders, a few friends and family members from both sides.
