JUSTICE MARY ANG’AWA STOPS HER
UNCLE’S BURIAL OVER LAND DISPUTE
BY GODFREY OMBOGO
A
judge of the High Court has been accused of meddling in affairs involving the ancestral
land belonging to her grandfather.
Lady
Justice Mary Ang’awa together with her brother Charles Ang’awa has been accused
by their clan elders of using the court to stop the burial of their uncle who
died last month, over land dispute.
When
the late 73-year-old Caleb Otieno Oyunga died on June 21st, his
family organized the burial and slated it for July 7th but they
received a court order stopping the burial until the land issue is resolved.
Elly
Odero, a cousin to the deceased, said Caleb’s family was summoned to face
Ang’awa’s family in Kisumu High Court on July 9th.
“When
we went to the court, the presiding judge wanted both the parties to compromise
and solve the issue as a family so that the deceased can be buried but the
defendants declined and opted for the case to continue,” said Mr. Odero.
The
next hearing was then scheduled for July 26th and it is therefore
clear that Caleb’s body, which is lying in Port Florence Hospital in Kisumu, will
not be interred, at least until after the hearing and determination.
The
late Caleb’s widow Mrs. Jemimah Otieno said her father-in-law Mzee Isaac
Oyunga, the original owner of the parcel of land under dispute, transferred the
title deed to his son Dr. James Ang’awa for the purpose of enabling the latter
acquire a loan for completing the construction of his stone house.
Dr.
Ang’awa is the father of Justice Ang’awa and Charles Ang’awa and the elder
brother to the late Caleb.
Unfortunately,
said Mrs. Otieno, Dr. Ang’awa died soon after before changing the title’s name
as earlier intended.
His
widow, Perez Ang’awa then took the title and changed the name of the bearer to
her first son’s name Antony Ang’awa but after Antony died, she acquired the
title through transmission, according to a statement issued to the court and
signed by Caleb’s lawyer in 2007.
“After
acquiring the title she (Mrs Perez Ang’awa) told my husband and I that we are squatters and that we should leave,” said the 60-year-old widow in her home in
Marenyo, North Gem Location, Siaya county.
The
family house which her husband started constructing was stopped half-way when
the dispute started in 2005.
“This
is a family land and it has never been sub-divided. I now don’t know where to bury my husband because I did not come with any piece of land when I was
married here in 1967. All I want is to bury my husband peacefully,” said the
mother of ten.
A
former area chief William Onyango who served before and after Dr. Ang’awa’s
death said everyone who has died from Mzee Oyunga’s family has been buried in
the family grave yard which was set aside by Mzee Oyunga himself and wondered
why the late Caleb cannot be buried at the same place.
“I
retired in 1986 but before then, I witnessed the burial of everyone that died
from Oyunga’s family including two brothers to the late Otieno in that graveyard.
Why can’t Otieno be buried at the same graveyard?” he posed while pointing at
the family cemetery located a few metres from Caleb’s home.
A
statement signed by one of the plaintiffs Charles Ang’awa in civil suit dated
25th June 2012, he stated, “As an heir and beneficiary of the Estate
of my late mother, I object strongly to the defendant Jemimah Caleb
Otieno-widow of the late Caleb Willis Otieno Oyunga burying her late husband on
this piece of land.”
Lady Justice Ang'awa said in her statement that a permanent injunction had been imposed against Caleb restraining him and
his family from trespassing into the suit property in a case that was filed by
her mother in 2005. The case was however not finalized following her mother’s
death in 2010.
“I
was instructed by the Ang’awa family members to carry on with the suit which my
mother had filed. I know from my own knowledge that my late father’s last
brother has been trespassing in this property,” the statement read in part.
She
further asserted that she objects the attempted move to bury Caleb on the
parcel of land since it was her late mother’s property and her three brothers
and she are heirs to the parcel.
ENDS…
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