INTERVIEW: Why Does Kenya Need a Widowed Persons Protection Bill?

In this interview with Impact Newswire, Dr. Dianah Kamande, Executive Director of the Come Together Widows and Orphans Organization (CTWOO), explains why widowhood remains one of the least understood yet most devastating human rights and economic challenges facing women in Kenya. Drawing from her own experience of being widowed and years of supporting thousands of women across the country, she describes how bereavement is often followed by eviction, property grabbing, loss of livelihoods, child custody disputes and harmful cultural practices that leave widows vulnerable long after the funeral has ended. Dr. Kamande discusses the growing campaign for the Widowed Persons Protection Bill, 2026, legislation that would establish Kenya’s first comprehensive legal framework dedicated to protecting widowed people. She expounds why existing succession, family and criminal laws have failed to prevent widespread abuses, how the proposed bill would shift the focus from remedying violations to preventing them, and why she believes Parliament has a historic opportunity to ensure that losing a spouse no longer means losing one’s home, dignity, rights or future.

When your husband dies, grief may be only the beginning. For many widows in Kenya, the loss of a spouse is quickly followed by a fight to keep their home, land, savings or even their children. Some are accused of causing their husband’s death, others are pressured into harmful traditional rites before they can rebuild their lives, while many face relatives seeking to seize family property. Advocates say widowhood often exposes women to discrimination that existing laws have failed to prevent.

Those experiences have prompted a coalition of civil society groups to push for the Widowed Persons Protection Bill, 2026, a private member’s bill introduced in Parliament by lawmaker Otiende Amollo in May. The proposed legislation would create Kenya’s first standalone legal framework protecting widowed people from discrimination, property grabbing and harmful cultural practices. Supporters argue that current protections are scattered across succession, family and criminal laws, leaving many widows without effective legal remedies when disputes arise after the death of a spouse.

The campaign is being led by Come Together Widows and Orphans Organization (CTWOO) and Equality Now, which helped draft the bill. They say the legislation would transform widowhood from a period marked by legal uncertainty into one in which widowed people enjoy explicit protections over inheritance, housing, child custody, health, privacy and personal dignity.

The urgency is reflected in the cases reaching community organizations. CTWOO, which provides legal assistance, counseling and emergency support to widows across Kenya, recorded 139 new cases in May 2026 alone, ranging from unlawful evictions and inheritance disputes to psychological abuse and harmful traditional practices. The organization says many victims never seek help through formal state institutions because of fear, financial constraints or limited access to justice.

Kenya is home to a large widowed population. According to the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, about 8 percent of women aged 15 to 49 are widowed, divorced or separated, while census data show widowhood increases sharply with age as women tend to outlive men. Globally, there are an estimated 258 million widows, including nearly 38 million living in extreme poverty, according to UN Women and the Loomba Foundation, highlighting widowhood as both a gender equality and economic development issue.

According to the organizations, widows are frequently forced from matrimonial homes, stripped of property, deprived of livelihoods and denied custody of their children after a spouse dies. Some are branded witches or blamed for their husbands’ deaths, accusations advocates say are often used to justify dispossession. Online harassment and inheritance-related fraud have also become increasingly common.

The bill would criminalize coercive mourning rites, widow inheritance, forced marriage and the unlawful seizure of a widow’s property or eviction from the matrimonial home. It would also outlaw harassment, false accusations that a widow caused her spouse’s death and digital abuse linked to inheritance disputes.

Among its most significant reforms, the legislation would amend Kenya’s Law of Succession Act to allow widows to retain inheritance rights after remarriage. It would also change inheritance rules in polygamous marriages by recognizing each widow as an individual beneficiary rather than treating her as part of a single household unit with her children.

The bill would establish a Widowed Persons Protection Board to oversee implementation, investigate rights violations, coordinate legal aid and counseling services, advise government on policy and improve national data collection on widowhood. County governments would also be required to establish emergency shelters and legal aid centers for widowed people left homeless after the death of a spouse.

Supporters say the legislation would bring Kenya’s domestic laws closer to its obligations under the Maputo Protocol, the African Union treaty that specifically protects widows’ rights, and the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). While Kenya has ratified both treaties, advocates argue that many of their protections have yet to be fully reflected in national law, leaving widows vulnerable despite constitutional guarantees of equality and property rights.

One of the people behind that campaign is Dr. Dianah Kamande, CTWOO’s executive director, who founded the organization after experiencing discrimination and dispossession following the death of her own husband. She says years of supporting widows have shown that constitutional rights often provide little protection once customary practices and unequal family power dynamics come into play.

She spoke with Faustine Ngila about her personal journey, the gaps in Kenya’s legal protections for widows and why she believes the Widowed Persons Protection Bill could be transformative.

Here is the full interview:

1. You founded CTWOO after experiencing discrimination and dispossession following your husband’s death. What specific moment made it clear to you that widows in Kenya needed a dedicated law rather than relying on existing legal protections?

The turning point came when I realised that what had happened to me was not an isolated incident but a widespread pattern affecting thousands of widows across Kenya. Despite the existence of constitutional protections and succession laws, I witnessed widows being evicted from their homes, denied access to family property, and subjected to harmful cultural practices with little practical protection. The law existed on paper, but there was no dedicated framework addressing the unique vulnerabilities widows face immediately after bereavement. It became clear that widows needed a specific law that recognises their circumstances, guarantees their rights, and creates mechanisms for enforcement and accountability.

2. CTWOO recorded 139 cases in May 2026 alone. What do these cases collectively tell you about the scale and patterns of abuse facing widows across Kenya today?

The 139 cases recorded in a single month reveal that widowhood-related violations remain a serious national problem. The cases cut across rural and urban communities and involve property grabbing, unlawful eviction, disinheritance, denial of access to bank accounts, interference with businesses, child custody disputes, and economic exclusion. They demonstrate that widowhood often triggers a sudden loss of security and dignity. Most importantly, they show that these abuses are not isolated family disputes but systemic violations affecting women across different social and economic backgrounds.

3. Kenya already has protections across succession, family, and criminal law. Why do these frameworks fail in practice to stop eviction, property grabbing, and loss of child custody after a spouse dies?

These laws were not designed to protect widows at the moment they become widows.

When a spouse dies, a widow enters a period of extraordinary vulnerability. Within hours or days, she may face pressure from relatives, attempts to seize property, interference with family businesses, removal of household assets, or even threats of eviction. Yet the existing legal framework assumes that she has the time, resources, and emotional strength to initiate court proceedings while grieving.

The Law of Succession Act primarily deals with the distribution of a deceased person’s estate. Criminal law addresses offences after they have occurred. Family law addresses specific family disputes. None of these laws creates a comprehensive system of immediate protection for widows during the critical period following bereavement.

As a result, widows often find themselves in a legal vacuum. By the time succession proceedings commence, property may already have been transferred, businesses taken over, children removed from their care, or homes occupied by others. The law then focuses on remedying the damage rather than preventing it.

What has been missing is a legal framework that recognises widowhood itself as a status requiring protection and that imposes clear duties on state agencies, local administrators, families, and communities to safeguard a widow’s rights from the moment her spouse dies. That is the gap the Widowed Persons Protection Bill seeks to fill.

4. Many widows report that even when courts rule in their favour, enforcement on the ground is weak or delayed. What does this gap between legal judgment and lived reality look like in practice?

For many widows, justice on paper does not immediately translate into justice in their daily lives.

A widow may obtain a court order confirming her right to remain in her home, yet still face threats, intimidation, and attempts to force her out. She may secure orders protecting family property, only to discover that assets have already been sold, occupied, concealed, or transferred before enforcement can take place. In some cases, she wins the case but continues to suffer the consequences of violations that occurred while the matter was pending in court.

Part of the challenge is that obtaining a judgment is often only the beginning of another struggle. Enforcement may require further applications, police assistance, intervention by local administrators, or additional court proceedings. Delays, lack of coordination between institutions, and resistance from those determined to disregard the law can make the enforcement process slow and exhausting.

But there is another challenge that is less visible and often more difficult to address: cultural retaliation.

One of the realities many widows face is that winning in court can come at a social cost. A widow who chooses to assert her legal rights may be accused of disrespecting her in-laws, dividing the family, abandoning tradition, or placing property above family relationships. Some are ostracised by relatives, excluded from family decision-making, denied community support, or subjected to sustained intimidation designed to pressure them into abandoning the rights that a court has already recognised.

As a result, some widows find themselves in a painful position. They have won the legal battle, but they must continue living among the very people who opposed their claim. The fear of damaging family relationships, exposing their children to hostility, or becoming isolated within their community can discourage widows from pursuing enforcement even where the law is clearly on their side.

This is why the challenge is not simply one of legal enforcement. It is also a challenge of social attitudes and cultural perceptions. A right that can only be exercised at the cost of exclusion, intimidation, or retaliation is a right that remains difficult to enjoy in practice.

The true measure of justice is not whether a widow receives a favourable judgment. It is whether she can exercise that right without fear, remain secure in her home, provide for her children, and continue living with dignity and acceptance in her community. Until that becomes the reality, the gap between legal rights and lived experience will remain.

5. What is the single most significant change the Widowed Persons Protection Bill, 2026 would introduce that would most directly transform the lived experience of widows?

The most significant change introduced by the Bill is its preventative protection framework, particularly through the statutory role assigned to chiefs and other local administrators. Today, many widows only seek legal assistance after they have already been evicted, disinherited, or deprived of their livelihoods. The law often responds after the harm has occurred.

The Bill changes that approach by requiring early intervention to preserve a widow’s rights immediately following the death of a spouse. Chiefs would have a clear legal duty to protect widows from unlawful eviction, property grabbing, interference with businesses, and other forms of dispossession during the vulnerable period following bereavement. 

This means that the State would no longer wait for widows to navigate lengthy court processes before receiving protection. For many widows, this would be transformative because it shifts the focus from recovering lost rights to preventing those rights from being violated in the first place. A widow who remains securely in her home, retains access to family property, and continues supporting her children is far less likely to fall into poverty, exploitation, or prolonged legal battles. The Bill therefore seeks to stop injustice before it happens rather than merely providing remedies after the fact.

6. The Bill proposes reforms to the Law of Succession Act, including protecting widows’ inheritance rights even if they remarry. Why is this change necessary, and how does current law disadvantage widows?

This reform is fundamentally about equality, dignity, and the right of widows to move forward with their lives without being punished for doing so.

For generations, widows have faced an unfair and deeply discriminatory expectation: that they must choose between economic security and personal happiness. The message embedded in the current legal framework is that a widow’s right to continue benefiting from her late spouse’s estate can become uncertain if she remarries. In effect, society asks widows a question that it rarely asks widowers: “If you find love again, should you lose the rights you acquired during your marriage?”

We believe the answer is no.

A widow’s inheritance rights arise from the marriage she shared with her spouse, the life they built together, and the contributions she made to the family, whether financial, domestic, emotional, or otherwise. Those rights should not disappear simply because she chooses to rebuild her life after loss. Bereavement should not become a life sentence of loneliness imposed by the law.

The current position can leave widows trapped in fear and uncertainty, particularly those who depend on inherited property to house, educate, and support their children. Some are discouraged from remarrying altogether because of concerns that they may lose access to property or economic support. Others are forced into informal relationships because the law appears to penalise them for formalising a new union.

The proposed reform affirms a simple but powerful principle: inheritance is not a reward for remaining unmarried. It is a legal right arising from a marriage that existed and a contribution that was made. Protecting that right regardless of remarriage recognises widows as full and equal citizens, capable of making personal choices without sacrificing their economic security.

At its heart, this reform is about ensuring that the law does not force widows to choose between their future and their rights.

7. Kenya’s Constitution guarantees equality and property rights, yet enforcement gaps persist. How will the proposed Widowed Persons Protection Board change accountability and enforcement on the ground?

For too long, widows have existed in a space where their rights are recognised in law but ignored in practice. When a widow is dispossessed, evicted, denied access to property, or subjected to harmful treatment, she is often left to navigate multiple government offices, police stations, courts, and administrative processes with little coordination and no institution specifically mandated to protect her rights.

The Widowed Persons Protection Board changes that. It creates a dedicated institution whose sole responsibility is to ensure that widows are seen, heard, and protected. The Board would provide a focal point for receiving complaints, monitoring violations, coordinating interventions, and ensuring that government agencies do not turn a blind eye when widows’ rights are threatened.

More importantly, the Board introduces accountability. Today, when a widow’s rights are violated, responsibility is often diffused among different institutions, making it easy for everyone to assume that someone else will act. The Board would help ensure that cases are tracked, responses are coordinated, and public officers are held accountable for failures to protect widows.

The Board would also serve as the national voice for widows by collecting data, documenting patterns of abuse, advising government on policy reforms, and bringing visibility to a problem that has too often remained hidden behind the walls of homes and families. What gets measured gets addressed, and what gets addressed gets changed.

Ultimately, the Board is about transforming constitutional promises into lived realities. Rights are only meaningful when there is an institution willing and able to defend them. The Widowed Persons Protection Board would ensure that widowhood is no longer a pathway to exclusion, but a circumstance in which the full protection of the law is actively and consistently available.

8. What are the main political or institutional hurdles facing the Bill in Parliament, and what is your message to lawmakers who are still undecided or hesitant to support it?

The challenges facing the Bill are not only legislative but also cultural and institutional. While some may raise concerns about resources or argue that existing laws are sufficient, a more significant obstacle is the persistence of cultural beliefs and practices that normalise the dispossession of widows. In some communities, widows are still expected to surrender property to their in-laws, undergo degrading rituals, or accept decisions made on their behalf regarding their homes, livelihoods, and children. These practices often continue despite clear constitutional protections.

The purpose of the Bill is not to attack culture. Culture is an important part of our identity and social fabric. However, no cultural practice should be used to justify discrimination, violence, or the denial of fundamental rights. The Constitution is clear that culture must be exercised in a manner consistent with human dignity, equality, and freedom.

My message to lawmakers is that widowhood is not a cultural issue affecting a small group of people; it is a national human rights and social justice issue. Every Member of Parliament represents widows within their constituency who have faced eviction, disinheritance, economic exclusion, or loss of dignity following the death of a spouse. Supporting this Bill is an opportunity to ensure that bereavement does not become a gateway to poverty, abuse, and discrimination. It is an opportunity to affirm that in modern Kenya, no person should lose their rights simply because they have lost their spouse.

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