Widow recovers her land... - Justice Centres Uganda

Widow recovers her land…

Aida is a widow to the late Ndege who died intestate in 2005 leaving her with 8 children. Before Ndege’s demise, he had divided his land between his 2 wives and their children. Aida alleged that she had always lived on her late husband’s land till one fateful day when the respondent who happens to be her step grandson chased her away from her home claiming the land. It’s then that she approached the clan members as is the norm.

The clan members tried to resolve the matter but in so doing further infringed on the widow’s rights as they decided that she was only entitled to less than 10%. They proceeded to plant boundary marks even in the compound of her matrimonial home. She felt threatened by the actions of the clan that had in turn reinforced the respondent’s animosity towards her. She then started living at her sister’s place in a nearby village.

Aida luckily heard about JCU from a friend and she approached JCU Tororo and the matter was registered in February 2022. An office mediation was and it was attended by the clan heads as well as the family members. The lawyer that handled the case taught the parties about widow’s inheritance rights as well as succession law. The mediation turned out to be successful however there was need to conduct a locus mediation so that the land can be divided and redistributed.

The Centre then held a locus mediation in March 2022. While at locus, the clan members and the family members understood that as a widow, Aida had a right to inherit the property belonging to her late husband and also that their matrimonial home is not subject to inheritance while the widow is still alive.

Having sensitized the community and the clan leaders on Succession Law in Uganda, it was greed that boundaries be drawn in the presence of all community members so that the widow’s share is established. We then proceeded to measure the land that belonged to Aida and boundary marks were planted. The land is approximately 1 ½ acres situate at Ginnery zone, Tuba Parish, Magodesi Town Council in Tororo District

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