This archive report was first published on 4 November 2021.
Land disputes can lead to extreme measures, as evidenced by the case of Alice, a 25-year-old woman from Murang'a County.
For two years, Alice has been fighting for control of her family's three-acre land in Maragua Ridge village, Murang'a County.
Her brother, Edward Macharia, believes that traditionally, land belongs to sons, not daughters, leading to a clash of traditions and modernity.
The dispute has led to 'dirty' schemes, with area administrators getting sucked into the dispute.
On July 2020, Alice woke up at Mathari hospital, with no recollection of how she got there.
She claimed that her brother had told the hospital that she had been ailing since 2017 and had passed out in a rage, leading to her admission.
Alice suspects that she was sedated and lost consciousness so that she could be easily transported to the hospital.
After a month at the hospital, she was released and returned home to find that three deals were being pushed through regarding the family land.
She discovered that two people were buying half an acre each, worth Sh600,000, without her consent.
She lodged a complaint with Murang'a South Deputy County Commissioner Mawira Mungania and the area Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss David Cheruiyott.
They understood her dispute with her brother and called the assistant county commissioner, instructing him not to approve the transactions.
Alice began to understand why she was taken to Mathari hospital when she noticed that her brother had filed an affidavit attaching a medical report issued by the hospital.
The report indicated that she was mentally impaired and not qualified to hold a legally binding opinion on any matter.
However, detectives on the case decided that Alice's brother was in the wrong for going around disclosing her mental health condition without her consent.
Mr Mungania said, 'We figured out it was a grave infringement of her privacy... but Alice said she was not interested in having her brother arrested.'
Mr Macharia told Nation.Africa to 'leave our family alone because what is happening is none of your business.'
After her parents and brother took her out of the hospital, she travelled with them to their Murang'a home, but she disappeared again on Wednesday.
Her brother had been summoned to record a statement with the police, and the search for her continues.
