A High Court in Vihiga has revoked a man's grant to administer his late father's estate after finding that he failed to disclose the deceased's daughters in the succession proceedings.In a ruling made on September 11, the court found that the application had omitted beneficiaries who were entitled to be notified of the succession proceedings.The applicant described himself to the court as the son of the deceased in March 2022 and was issued with a grant at the Magistrate's Court.However, when he sought confirmation of the grant, a family dispute emerged over the ownership and distribution of his father's land.The High Court noted that the proposed distribution was similarly limited to nine people, all of whom were male, leaving out the daughters."The exclusion of daughters is not a technicality. Article 27(4) of the Constitution forbids discrimination on the ground of sex; Article 45(3) confers equal rights on parties to a marriage and, by extension, informs the equality of children; and Article 60(1)(f) requires the elimination of gender discrimination in law, customs and practices related to land and property in land," the court stated, noting that Kenyan law does not distinguish between sons and daughters when determining inheritance rights.The judge ruled that the applicant applying for the grant in the same degree as his siblings was required to obtain the written consent of all persons entitled in equal degree or follow the procedure provided by law where such consent was unavailable.In this particular case, the court revoked the grant, maintaining that omitting daughters from it is a concealment of material facts and not a paperwork error, meaning the applicant cannot proceed with his proposed distribution."The female beneficiaries were unaware of the matter and were omitted from the consent on the mode of distribution.... The Petitioner had obtained the grant, and thereafter title, fraudulently and by concealment of material evidence," the judge said.The court affirmed that where an estate of the deceased is set to be distributed, daughters cannot be left out, and the revocation of the grant.In Kenyan law, daughters are entitled to inheritance of their parents' estates the same way as sons.While traditional customs historically favored male children, modern landmark court rulings have firmly established that cultural practices cannot override a girl child's constitutional right to inheritance.Article 27 of the 2010 Constitution guarantees that no child can be excluded from an estate based on their sex or gender. The rule applies to whether the daughter is married or not.Although some families still practise regressive traditional mediation systems to lock girls out of land ownership, the decisions hold no legal power when challenged in a court of law.
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