The Widow and Property Inheritances Issues among Kikuyu and Luo Widows in Kenya

Abstract

This study examined the Luo and Kikuyu communities of Kenya with regard to their practice of property inheritance among widows. The study examined the role played by the government, church and other related institutions in assisting widows or creating awareness about the poor treatment widows at the hands of those entrusted with their welfare. Information was obtained from existing literature including articles from newspapers, policy documents, publications and professional reports. Primary data was obtained by conducting key informant interviews using guided interviews, and focus group discussions. The major respondents included women who have been widowed. The study exposed major challenges facing widows in Kenya which include lack of recognition by the society, the church and the government. The effects of these include poverty, dispossession of home and property, declining sources of income and exclusion from key welfare programmes such as children's education and health care. The study found out that there is lack of clear government policy on sharing of property. There is also inadequate mechanisms in the identification of who should be allowed to follow up on the benefits of deceased husbands. This is particularly important if the husband was away from home for employment. During the research, the challenges identified were mainly associated with the traditional role of women as perceived by the Luo and Kikuyu communities where a widow is deemed not qualified enough to follow up issues regarding her husband's estate on her own. Secondly, women are generally not perceived as inheritors of property. In fact when people were counted, the numbers did not include women as they were deemed to have been "absorbed" in their husband's clan. Abstracts 147 The data obtained showed that in all the cases involving the Kikuyu widows, only one widow in the entire sample was able to access her nd's property. Among the Luo, the cause of dispossession is the real by the widows to be inherited and "cleansed". Such refusal, viewed as a curse to the family and relatives, is used against the widow who is accused of being uncooperative and uncaring about her larger family. The research shows that upon the death of the head of a household, the children appear to be illegitimate and the widow non-existent. When it comes to sharing out property, the widow is deemed to have no rights and in some cases, she may not even be allowed to build a house on the family land.