By Our Reporter.
The grandsons of the late Elly Athembo Onyuro one of the leading pioneer cane farmers and businessmen within Muhoroni, Nyando and Kisumu Districts are appealing to the Provincial Administration and the police to protect them from their two uncles one who contested Muhoroni Parliamentary seat in ODM party ticket in 2007 and contested for Miwani Counrty Assembly in CORD during the last general elections who have made life full of hell for them as they allege that the duo want to deprive them of their late father Isaac Onyuro.
According to the spokesperson of the grandchildren of the late Elly who was famous within the current KIsumu County Robert Elly Onyuro one of his half uncles who is a retired medical clerk and his brother are behaving as if they are a law to themselves as they harass and intimidate them even on their late father’s properties.
Speaking to this reporter on a wheel chair with both broken legs and arms as a result of injuries inflicted by thugs hired by his uncle to harm him and kill him over the said wealth rivalry Robert added that there is a criminal case PF 603/75/2013 AND Case no.75 of 2013 of which his uncle is accused of attacking him and maliciously damaging his late dad’s properties).
He says that his uncle with a group of thugs attacked him demanding that he quits staying in their home which has resulted to him currently staying in Kisumu which is forty five kilometers from his late father’s vast empire of land as he fears that the thugs might attempt to attack and harm him again.
“My uncle has been encroaching on my late father Isaac Onyuro’s properties harassing workers and tenants that he is the estate administrator of my late father which is not true as even during the time my father was alive they were not on talking terms and he would fight my dad which resulted to my dad concentrating in making his own wealth “Robert added.
He added that his uncle should differentiate between their late grandfathers’ wealth and Robert’s father’s wealth saying that his uncle is mixing things with a view of defrauding them as one of the documents within our possessions written by Otieno ,Ragot and Company Advocates calling for the intervention of the Officer Commanding Police Station Ahero in regard to land title nos Kisumu /Kabar/4459,4093,4157 & 4751.
Part of the letter reads “Our clients are Elly Robert Onyuro and Eunice Akinyi(wife of the late Isaac and mother of Robert) and it has emerged that Shem Athembo Onyuro and Gerald Ochieng’ Onyuro have frequently transferred the above mentioned parcels of land into their respective names without following the due process of law without doing succession under the Law of Succession Act Cap 160 Laws of Kenya”.
The letter signed by Advocate Moses Munuang’o on behalf of the said legal firm adds that due to the fraudulent acts of Shem to Onyuro Athembo and Gerald Ochieng’ Onyuro ,an acrimony has emerged between them and other beneficiaries of the estate of Elly Onyuro Athembo and on one occasion he threatened to assault our clients when the latter discovered that they had indeed transferred the land in their favor
According to further documents within our possession the said uncle has written to one of the tenant’s in Ahero Town demanding rent from him yet the building doesn’t belong to him and went ahead to send an Auctioneer to proclaim his properties an action which was stopped by Bruce Odeny and Company Advocates.
The letter which is addressed to Madume Auctioneers of Kisumu reads in part “Your proclamation notice dated 20/6/2013 against one Eric Omondi of Kadinda Cycle Hardware at Ahero town has been placed into our hands with instructions to respond thereto as follows; our client is the equitable owner of the premises you have levied distress and also the landlord of the said Erick Omondi.The said Shem Onyuro Athembo does not own the said property nor is the landlord to Erick Omondi” the letter said in part.
It goes on to tell the auctioneer that at no point did Robert Onyuro instructed him to levy distress against the tenant who is not in any rent default as at the time of his proclamation and wonders where he obtained the instruction and authority to embarrass their client’s tenant as you did and finally demanding that he withdraw the said proclamation.
Robert further says that in his current condition where he is washed ,fed and taken around his uncle has further gone ahead to stop payments for canes he harvested from his late dad’s farm.
“I do not understand the meaning of his letter to the farmer’s co-operative society if it’s not aimed at killing me, these are the monies I use to educate my nine siblings who are in various institutions of learning” Robert added.
The letter written by his uncle Shem Athembo Onyuro to the Chairman ,Secretary and Treasurer of Olikoliero Farmers Cooperation Society and copied to Managing Director Kibos Sugar and Allied Industries Ltd warns of dire consequences should they go ahead and pay Robert for his cane he delivered to the said Co-operative.
“The said land where the cane was harvested he says belongs my late dad Isaac and not my grandfather “Robert added.
But his woes appears to have been selvedge through a letter addressed to Kibos Sugar & Allied Industries by his advocate Bruce Odeny and Company Advocates in regard to unlawful stoppage of cane transaction by Shem Athembo Onyuro against his client who is the administrator of the estate of his late dad Hesborn Isaac Onyuro.
Part of the letter said;”The allegations raised by the said author of the complaint is baseless for the reasons that there is no theft of any cane and further the complainant has not disclosed the respective farms or land parcels in question that the said theft took place and goes ahead to say that the complainant has also not disclosed any documentary evidence to prove ownership of the land or the said harvested and /or delivered cane”
The letter further says that they had instructions that the complainant (Shem Athembo Onyuro) is the brother of the late Hesborn Onyuro who passed away two years ago and never used to enjoy any good terms with the deceased while the deceased was alive.
“The complainant as such is taking an undue advantage of the orphans his late brother left behind to torment them to satisfy his unresolved disputes with his late brother” the letter further says.
It adds that it is in the public knowledge that there are a number of criminal acts that the complainant has subjected the deceased family to including assaults and malicious damage to the deceased property and the cases are currently a subject of a criminal trial against the complainant in Nyando Principal Magistrate Court Criminal Case No.75 of 2013 (Police File 603/75/2013).
The letter also beseeches the Sugar Company to ignore Shem Athembo Onyuro saying he is facing a serious of investigations of forgery of the title deeds belonging to the deceased and illegally transferring them into his own and that investigations are currently underway by the Nyando CID office and as such the current allegations of the complainant are just another of his many theatrics and malice targeted against the deceased’s survivors.
Robert says that after leaving his late dad’s homestead his uncle has again written to him where he currently stays demanding that he pays him rent for his late father’s house he currently occupies.
Contacted for comment Shem Onyuro Athembo said that if the writer had documentary evidence to prove he had no comment but would resort to legal action should the story be written without any documentary evidence to prove.