Maana & 3 others v Mbomere & 6 others (Environment and Land Appeal E008 & E009 of 2022 (Consolidated)) [2024] KEELC 3702 (KLR)

Time runs from payment of the last instalment of purchase price. The Appellant paid the last instalment in 2008 but did not prove the month, so the court could not compute the 12-year period. In any event, the 2nd Respondent's suit of 13th June 2019 interrupted possession at 11 years, and the suit was filed only one month after the 3rd Respondent's registration.

The trial magistrate stated that adverse possession cannot arise from a sale agreement because possession is permissive. The court held this was an error in law, citing Wambugu v Njuguna, Peter Mbiri Michuki and Public Trustee v Wanduru: once the purchase price is fully paid, the purchaser's possession becomes adverse to the vendor and limitation runs in his favour.

The standard of proof for fraud is above a balance of probabilities. The Land Registrar testified that Daudi Dado Nyabola personally appeared and confirmed the sale, and the forensic examiner found the complainant had sold the land knowingly. The deceased had also sworn contradictory affidavits, undermining his reliability.

It would be a dangerous precedent to enter judgment in any undefended suit, including statute-barred ones. No fraud was pleaded or proved against Equity Bank, and the counter-claim against it was therefore properly dismissed notwithstanding its non-participation.

Matrimonial property is the matrimonial home, household goods, or immovable property jointly owned and acquired during the marriage. The widow's own cross-examination confirmed the land was bought by the deceased and was not ancestral, and no evidence established it as matrimonial property.