A woman in Kiambu County is accusing local lands officials of frustrating her bid to acquire the title deed for a parcel of inherited land.

Grace Nduta Njoki claims despite the court recognising her as the bona fide owner of the 2.65 acres of land in Ndumberi following completion of the succession process, the lands officials have deliberately denied her the vital ownership document.

Apart from seeking help from Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the woman has petitioned the Judicial Service Commission complaining how she has been receiving threats from influential individuals who want to disinherit her in cahoots with the land officials.

She claims in spite of land registration officials initially acknowledging her as the genuine owner of the land following a court ruling, they have blatantly refused to effect changes on the title deed recognising her as the rightful owner.

Nduta became an administrator of her mother’s estate after the death of Njoki Mbugua in December 2003. The previous year, a Kiambu court had validated the matriach’s claim to the different parcels, amalgamated into 2.65 acres.

Long before Njoki died, she had been embroiled in an inheritance row with a stepson, Kiarie Mbugua, under whose name the entire piece of land measuring 6 acres.

After Njoki’s demise, Nduta filed a succession case and was granted letters to administer her mother’s estate on November 20, 2007 by High Court Judge, Maureen Odero.

According to the grant, Nduta was to ensure that the 2.65 acres of land was equitably divided among the five siblings where each was to get a quarter acre each.

In 1999, Njoki had filed the case, which was ultimately decided on 2002 when Kiarie’s claim to the entire piece of land was invalidated.

Senior Resident Magistrate J.G. Kingori made the decision on January 25, 2002 after listening to Njoki’s application. The objector, Kiarie was not in court and was not represented.

This decision was later upheld by Senior Resident Magistrate, T.B. Nyangenya on June 3 2019. In his ruling, the magistrate directed the Kiambu Land Registrar to comply and satisfy the judgement of 2005.

More than twenty years later and after numerous reminders and knocking on doors of government offices, Nduta claims she has been denied justice.

“The fraudsters with the help of current Registrar of Land in Kiambu have purportedly continued taking control of the said parcels using unlawfully generated documents and have resorted to plotting to eliminate me with the aim of silencing me,” says Nduta pleading with Judicial Service Commission to intervene.

When reached, Kiambu Lands Registrar Gladys Muyanga promised to call back, but she had not done so by the time of going to press.

The woman further DCI officers probing the matter have been partisan with one of them informing her that if she continues bothering them, the prime land will be registered in the names of those eying it.