23/10/2023
๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐,๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต๐ผ
By South Rift Daily Team
Buying land in Bomet or in Kericho is now a huge gamble, and two things are always involved either under a lengthy succession battle or a controversial title, or suffering from both.
But the issue isn't even that, the elephant in the room is the cartels consisting of DCI officers, lawyers, land officers, surveyors and land brokers who now scout parcels with any spot of succession controversy and initiate bitter succession battles.
South Rift Daily conducted a survey and established that three-quarters of land cases in Bomet and Kericho involve succession battles that began in the last five years.
That is not even the issue, the controversy is that these cases are handled by selected law firms. For instance in Bomet town and its surroundings, three law firms have 'specialized' in initiating, spinning, and midwifing lengthy bitter succession battles that have broken families apart and made it impossible for investors to settle in the town. The same case applies to Kericho.
Our two months' investigations revealed that land succession cases are now hotcakes for nondescript law firms that before did not have clients.
So profitable is the 'business' that lawyers from other counties and even neighbouring countries are pitching tents in Bomet or Kericho and specializing in 'land succession matters.'
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฝ๐
๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฟ
In a well-scripted strategy, a land broker scouts a piece of prime land in Bomet or Kericho whose owner has long died but has not yet succeeded, the broker approaches a disgruntled family member or the daughters of the family who have long been married and had not before expressed interest in the estate.
The broker then informs these disgruntled family members that he knows someone who can offer 'pro bono' legal services, on condition that he gets a piece once the case goes through.
๐๐๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐ซ
The broker then approaches the law firm with the case-(in Bomet, three law firms are well known to handle this)- and then he is given his commission. The lawyer then plays with the divide-and-rule strategy for the family resulting in the beginning of long-drawn divisive battles.
๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ถ๐บ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
Once the lawyer and the broker have succeeded in playing with the family's psychology, a campaign of intimidation begins. This involves the use of DCI to cast aspersions on the title claiming to be the 'Ngeno titles' referring to titles that were allegedly issued unprocedurally by a former Bomet land registrar.
The strategy is not to seek justice for the alleged clients but to force the accused to 'cough up something' especially the purchasers who bought the land and have only sales agreements as a proof of ownership.
In this stage, the lawyer,the broker,the surveyor etc milk all the interested parties dry with the promise that they are looking after their interests. A classic case in Bomet is where an alleged quack lawyer asked a disgruntled family to offer him a piece of prime land so that 'he solves their succession matter once and for all.'
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐
The case after long drawn and expensive battle finally lands in the courts, depending on the gravity of the matter, the law firm can decide to just dump it there or request a 'mediation' of the parties.
๐ ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
The 'mediation' is in other words, coming to square one where the broker initiates another round of family battles-now divisive and more bitter. The circle continues.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ก
The battles can take a minimum of five years to eternity depending again on-the ability for the family to agree-which is impossible given that the brokers,lawyers and DCI are interested.
All summing succession battles in South as a fools' paradise!
๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ @๐ป๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐
@๐ป๐๐ ๐ฑ๐๐
๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐ ๐ere ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐.
