Last
Wednesday’s dinner was delectable. Mother, son, and a family friend were
content with the beef, sukuma wiki, and ugali. Then three armed men broke into
the Sojo village house in the Sikawa sublocation of Narok.
The
rough-looking men told them to lay flat on the ground and place their hands
over their heads. Except for the matriarch Lilian Reteti Momboshi, everyone
did. If a robbery was taking place, she wanted to know what was going on and
give the robbers what they demanded.
Sadly,
they were worse than robbers. They were there to get her. They quickly bound
her son Salaton Momboshi with a rope and took off with the 56-year-old woman who was bleeding
profusely from an arm wound caused by a machete attack by one of the attackers.
The
attackers, who seemed to be following orders from a man who had been standing
at the door the entire time, however, got into a heated argument before they
left. The third one did not want to kill Salaton, but the other two did.
The
family friend named Kioni, who was still lying on the floor, could hear the
conversation. After some discussion, the men decided to spare the young man.
The
two survivors called for help shortly after they left, and the entire village
started looking for them. They discovered Reteti’s dismembered body six
kilometers from her Sojo home in a matter of hours.
Under
OB number 24/02/11/2022, the incident was reported to Enoosaren Police Station.
As soon as they arrived, the police investigated the scene and transported the
body to the mortuary of St. Teresa’s hospital in Kilgoris for a post mortem.
Reteti,
who was in fear for her life, wrote and signed the names of two individuals she
thought were the main suspects in her husband’s 2010 death on March 13.
A
week since her death, her four orphaned children are not at ease. They believe their mother
died as a result of a property dispute between her mother and their late
father’s brother and stepmother over control of their father’s estate.
With
an acre costing on average Sh2 million, the family’s 100-acre farm is now worth
Sh200 million. The Nation has learned that the family’s land dispute has been a
contentious issue throughout its history.
William
Sankei Momboshi was assassinated in cold blood on November 10, 2010, at his
Masurura farmhouse. His son, Kelvin Momboshi, 28, vividly described how his
father was sprayed with bullets after leaving their house late at night to
investigate what had caused his motorcycle to move. The uproar was clearly a
ploy to get him out of the house and into the open, where his killers awaited.
“I
heard several gunshots after father left the house to check if someone was
trying to steal his motorcycle. I hid, and was shocked when I went outside a
few moments later to find him lying in a pool of his own blood. Some wanted
this land then, and they still want it now,” he told the Nation.
Salaton,
his younger brother, witnessed nearly the same thing twelve years later: their
mother being dragged out of the house to be executed.
Following
their father’s death, a land battle erupted, and the matter was taken to court
after their stepmother Esther Magiro, along with their paternal uncle, Samwel
Momboshi, applied for letters of administration for their father’s estate.
According
to the two, the first widow, Reteti, refused to renounce or seek representation
in an earlier succession case in 2013. This was resolved, however, when the two
widows applied jointly for the grant of letters of administration, which was
granted on March 10, 2015.
Magiro
named Reteti, herself, and their children as beneficiaries of the estate in
their application. The deceased’s property included communal land in Masurura,
plot number 52 in the Sikawa adjudication section, another plot in Kilgoris
township, a plot at Osagan Trading Centre, a Kenya Commercial Bank account, and
an insurance policy.
Reteti,
on the other hand, filed an affidavit objecting to the application for
confirmation of grant, claiming that Magiro had no right to their husband’s property
because she had not contributed to its acquisition and had even remarried. She
also objected to Magiro’s daughter being named as a beneficiary because she was
not their husband’s biological child.
The
widow also objected to the inclusion of her brother-in-law Momboshi as a
beneficiary, and she claimed that some of her husband’s assets were not
disclosed.
However,
Magiro requested that the court follow the elders’ proposal on the distribution
of the property from November 28, 2010. The elders proposed that the livestock
be divided equally between the two widows, that the plots at Masurura and
Sikawa, which had not yet been demarcated, be subdivided equally, and that
Reteti be given a plot within Kilgoris.
Following
confirmation from the county council, the plot at Osagam Trading Centre
awaiting demarcation was to be shared equally by the two houses. The funds in
the bank account were also to be distributed equally.
Magiro
would then receive one plot of land, while Reteti would receive the other. The
elders then decided that the remaining farms should be divided equally between
the two widows.
Reteti,
on the other hand, objected to the elders’ proposal and proposed that she keep
the plot in Kilgoris and that the Osagam Trading Centre property be shared equally
between her and Magiro.
Because
Magiro did not contribute to their acquisition, the Sikawa adjudication Section
52 and the land parcel at Masurura devolve entirely to her, and she also
suggested that one plot be devolved to Magiro while she gets another. The
proceeds from the plots were to be split equally between the two widows and
their children, with all other remaining property passing to her and her
children.
It
was also revealed that the 100-acre farm in Sikawa, where Reteti shared her
final meal with her son, was to be divided between Momboshi and his brother
Samwel. However, the brothers never agreed on how to divide the land, and it
remained a source of contention between them until Momboshi’s murder.
In
May 2019, the court ordered that the plot known as T/Mara/Olochani sections 32,
33, and 34 in Kilgoris township and the developments be devolved to Reteti and
that the property be divided equally among her children in the event of her
death or remarriage.
The
court ruled that the plot at Osagam Trading Centre would be divided equally
between the first and second houses, and that the two widows would have a life
interest in their shares, which would pass to their children upon their deaths
or remarriage.
7 Places in Nairobi Metropolis where you can buy land for under Ksh1, 000, 000.
Plot
Number 52, Sikawa adjudication section and the land parcel at Masurura was to
be shared between the first and second house in the ratio of 5:2 in favour of
the first house. Plot 14, A/C No. 716115 to devolve to Magiro, while plot
number 130 “B A/C number 715354 be devolved to Reteti. Proceeds from plot
numbers 712955, 715012, 713338 to devolve to Magiro while proceeds from 715050,
715353, 715356 to devolve to Reteti.
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