Daughter's house gift sparks bitter family land feud

It is around noon, and Rhoda Wanyama sits pensively alongside her sisters, their gazes fixed on the charred ruins of what was once their late mother’s home in Siaka village, Kanduyi Constituency, Bungoma County.

Nearby workers prepare to erect a temporary structure where their house once stood.

For Rhoda, this site carries a deep and painful history: fifteen years ago, using her very first salary while working abroad, she built a modern house for her mother, Josephine Musundi Wanyama.

What was meant to be a lasting appreciation of filial gratitude was reduced to ashes under mysterious circumstances on May 11, 2026 exactly three years, after her mother passed away.

Behind the arson lies a bitter land feud rooted in deep-seated cultural taboos that dictate women should neither inherit ancestral land nor build houses for their parents while male siblings are alive.

"I built it in 2009 using my first salary and without any financial assistance from anyone," Rhoda recalls. My mother lived there until her death on May 11, 2023. It was our family home, a place of memories, and a symbol of the sacrifices she made for us," says Rhodah.

The news of its destruction reached Rhoda in Switzerland, where she works as a nurse.