On November 21, 2018, the Federation of Women Lawyers (Fida) asked a Nyeri court to throw out retired Presbyterian Church minister Timothy Njoya’s case against Mary Wangui Maina over a four-acre parcel of land.
The organisation told Nyeri Senior Principal Magistrate Phillip Mutua that Maina should be recognised as the lawful owner of the property, which she says formed part of her matrimonial home and her late husband’s estate.
Through lawyer Catherine Murefu, Fida said Maina was married to Njoya’s late father, Nahashon Njoya Murere, from 1977 until his death on January 2, 1996. The group relied on a statement from Thimba clan elders indicating that Maina and Murere lived together.
Maina told the court that she and Murere had four children — George Mathenge, Anthony Maingi, Nelius Muthoni and Lesho Njoki — and that the disputed land belonged to the estate of her late husband, who was also Njoya’s father.
She said Murere moved the homestead to the suit land before his death, and that she has lived there for 41 years with her children. Maina also said she started building her house in 1981 after the birth of her daughter Muthoni.
According to her account, Njoya later reported his father to the chief of Muhito location, Mr Kiama, seeking more land. Maina said the chief summoned Murere, who confirmed in her presence that she was his wife and had a right to inherit his share of the property.
She further told the court that Njoya filed succession proceedings in 1997 without her knowledge and obtained consent at the High Court in Nairobi. Maina said she challenged that process by seeking revocation of the grant, but the application was dismissed in unclear circumstances.
Fida argued that Maina’s claim was also supported by adverse possession. The federation cited sections 7, 13, 17 and 38(1) of the Limitation of Actions Act, saying section 7 bars recovery of land after 12 years from the date the cause of action accrued.
Njoya, however, maintained that Maina was a trespasser and asked the court to order her to vacate the land. Through Kamau Kuria and Company Advocates, he said the estate had already been distributed by court and described the matter as a case filed in 2005 that had been delayed for eight years by two applications in the High Court that were filed and not prosecuted.
He also said the plaintiff had been kept out of his property by the defendants, who had lived there rent free.
Judgment was set for December 4, 2018.
