Deputy President William Ruto was forced to address the issue of land grabbing that he has been facing for several years now.
Lands that Ruto has been accused of grabbing include the one which his Weston Hotel stands on near Wilson airport, Muteshi land, Langata primary land, KPC land, Sewerage land, ADC land and Murungi land.
Speaking during the Presidential debate at Catholic University of East Africa on Tuesday Evening Ruto noted that such allegations are some of the reasons why he has proposed to fight corruption firmly and squarely in Kenya Kwanza’s manifesto.Â
The second in command said that he legally acquired all the pieces of land that are under his name and the 100 acre piece of Muteshi land became an issue only because he was a victim of fraudulent land sellers.
“Any piece of land that I have is legally acquired and in fact we need to discuss the Muteshi land, the 100 acres. I was a victim of fraudulent sellers of that land. What the court ordered me to do was to pay for the three years I had occupied the land and they calculated and said the income from this land would be approximately Kshs5 million and that is what I paid. The people who sold the land to me were taken to court,” Ruto explained.
He further said that the allegations does not make him guilty while also pointing out a number of lands that his main competitor in the August general election, Raila Odinga, has also been accused of grabbing.
“Acquisition of property is a legitimate endeavor. How you acquire it if it is legitimate, you’ve paid value for it and I want to tell you I have paid value for any property that I have. All manner of allegations have been said about people, my competitor, dominion land has been mentioned about him, Molasses land, so many other pieces of land, does that make you guilty, not at all.
“I think the presumption of innocence and the fact that I can stand up to scrutiny and for your information I am probably the politician in Kenya that has been audited left right, upside down, inside out on any matter ,” Ruto said.
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