Supreme Court judges decline to hear dispute on colonial chief land

Supreme Court judges have thwarted an attempt to escalate to the apex court a land inheritance row among the children of a senior colonial government’s chief.

The five-judge bench presided by Chief Justice Martha Koome dismissed a request by George Kang’ethe Waruhiu to extend time to challenge judgment of the Court of Appeal on the ownership of a 55-acre land in Githunguri, Kiambu County.

In the ruling that marked end of the inheritance dispute between children of the late Senior Chief Waruhiu, the judges said there were no sufficient reasons to justify Mr Kang’ethe’s delay in filing the Notice of Appeal against the judgment.

Mr Kang’ethe wanted the Supreme Court to allow him to challenge the Court of Appeal decision that was in favour of his relatives —Esther Nyamweru and Solomon Nga’ng’a — declaring them the rightful owners of property through customary trust.

However, the Supreme judges found that Mr Kang’ethe delayed in filing the notice of appeal.

The judges said the rules of the Supreme Court provide that the notice should be filed within 14 days from the date of Judgment or ruling which is the subject of appeal.

They noted that the judgment that Mr Kang’ethe intended to challenge was delivered on March 8, 2019. The last day for filing a Notice of Appeal was therefore March 22.

The application for extension of time before the Supreme Court was not filed until 495 days later.

The judges declined Mr Kang’ethe’s explanation that failure to file the notice of appeal was caused by an error on the part of his then advocates.