Kenyan Court Rules Parents Can Sell Land Without Consulting Children

The Environment and Lands Court has ruled that parents have the liberty to sell their land without the input of their children.

Judge Munyao Sila noted that there is no law that gives children the right to compel their parents to consult them when selling their land.

He made the ruling in a case where two children Jacques Orangi Ayienda and Donald Bosire Ayienda had sued their father John Ayienda Orangi for selling their ancestral land without consulting them.

While the two children acknowledged that their dad was the sole owner of the property, they argued that he was only holding the title deed in their trust.

“The court is persuaded that the first defendant (father), freely owned the land and was entitled to deal with it as he pleased,” Justice Munyao ruled.

He added: “In fact, it is despicable, if not outrageous, for a child to assert that his father or mother, must subdivide his land in a particular way, and proceed to sue his parent because he/she does not wish to deal with the land in the way proposed by the child. It was his land and he could do whatever he wanted with it…”

The judge noted that the two children had no right to compel their father to subdivide his land in a certain way. 

“Neither can they purport to attempt to reverse a sale that was freely entered into by their late father. The property was never held in their trust,” the judge ruled.

The judge said the two should grateful that their father gave them some land, which they complained was too little, and educated them to the university level.

"They are thankless… They have forgotten that their father took care of them when they were wobbly and helpless tots and raised them to be responsible adults. They have to live with the fact that they led their father to sell the land so that he can have peace. They cannot be heard to complain,” he said.

The judge overturned a previous ruling by a Land Disputes Tribunal, which had ruled in favor of the children.