- A Catholic church in Siaya County, Kenya, faces eviction from land it has used for five decades
- The dispute stems from a 1976 purchase agreement for Sh50,000
- The Environment and Land Court found the purchase price was never paid
- Long occupation and a permanent church building did not defeat the registered title
A Catholic congregation in western Kenya has learned the hard way that building on land is not the same as owning it. Business Daily Africa reported in July 2026 that a Catholic church in Siaya County faces eviction from a parcel it has occupied for five decades, over an unpaid Sh50,000 from a purchase deal made in 1976.
The church agreed to buy the land half a century ago and went on to build a permanent church on it. But according to the ruling, the agreed purchase price was never paid, and the land remained registered in the name of its original owner.
The Environment and Land Court decided that the church’s long occupation could not override that registered title. In the court’s reasoning, as summarised by the newspaper, five decades of occupation “could not defeat the registered landowner’s title because it never paid the agreed purchase price despite building a permanent church on the land.”
The sum involved is small by today’s standards, but the consequence is large: a congregation may lose a building it paid for and worshipped in for generations because one step in a 1976 transaction was never completed. The case highlights how courts treat an unfinished sale differently from a completed one, whatever the buyer has invested since.
Kenya’s courts have heard many church land disputes, and this one turns on a simple rule that applies well beyond Kenya: until the price is paid and the title transferred, the seller’s name on the register usually wins.
Jamaican churches, which have fought their own battles over land and long occupation, should take note. Many congregations built on land acquired informally, by gift, handshake or instalment, and never completed the paperwork. Church boards at home, and diaspora members funding new buildings, should check that every purchase has been fully paid, the title transferred and the documents safely kept, before another brick is laid.
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