A man from Etago in South Mugirango constituency was on Sunday ordered by elders from the region to relinquish a piece of land that allegedly belongs to his brother who has been reportedly away for over 15 years from the village.
55 year old Alex Ochoki is said to have inherited his brother’s piece of land despite their late father partitioning the ancestral home equally to the two brothers.
But on Sunday, a meeting held by village elders found Mr. Ochoki guilty of invading into Mr. James Orang’i’s land without the aggrieved consent, sparking a row that resulted into the intervention of village elders.
“We sat as elders after Mr. Orang’i raised the issue to us. We called the two for cross examination and collected enough evidence from the existing records. We established that Mr. Ochoki had invaded into the complainant’s piece of land illegally without consent from his brother,” said elder Evans Okeri.
They gave the accused an ultimatum of two weeks to clear from the land or face forcible evictions by village elders besides getting undisclosed punishment for defiance.
“He has no otherwise and that remains the case. Other people’s property must be respected and he has no choice. We have given him a period of two weeks to clear or get a wrath from elders,” added Elder Peter Nyamboga.
However Mr. Ochoki accused elders of partiality in handling the matter and vowed to take the matter to court for formal proceedings.
“He has been staying in Kitale where our late father bought. I have never complained to get a share there and therefore, it is essential that elders give credible judgments. If I am to relinquish this piece of land, we must therefore partition the one in Kitale so that we get a share each,” he said.