Elderly woman steals Ruto’s show at Mutomo with request to save residents from land eviction
Margaret Njeri Mubuu, an elderly woman from Mutomo village stole the show during Deputy President William Ruto's tour when she requested him to intervene and help thwart plans by the National Land Commission (NLC) to evict them from their ancestral land.
Njeri said NLC has schemed to forcefully relocate them to pave way for the expansion of Mama Ngina University, a newly constructed higher learning institution in the area.
"Deputy President William Ruto, we have been having a problem here that is making us cry every day. The government has been planning to forcefully evict us from our ancestral land where we have buried our loved ones. Please help us stop this plan," she said when she was handed a microphone by the village MCA hopeful.
Furious that the government has been taking them in circles whenever they demand why they were not involved in a public participation process, the woman who even screamed said that they only know Mutomo as their home and relocating them will result in emotional and psychological problems that may end up killing them.
"They have been saying that we will be relocated to Lamu or Rift Valley to die there," she added.
Njeri said the earlier plan was to issue the government 10-acres of land to build the university which they did and the institution was put up and fenced.
She added that as locals, they had been told that they would develop their parcels by putting up rental houses for students, a plan they said was changed without their consent.
"They now want us to leave our small parcels for them to put up malls. This we won't agree," Njeri added.
Responding to Njeri's statements, Ruto assured Mutomo locals that the government will not evict anyone forcefully.
He told residents that as long as they have the requisite ownership documents, no one will force them out of their ancestral homes.
"The government that you voted for is not a government of breaching the law. No one will be evicted forcefully so long as you have the ownership documents. Stop fearing as no one will evict you because Kenya is ruled by the constitution," Ruto said.
