Gatundu landowners move to court seeking to stop Ruto’s Ksh13B dam project

President William Ruto’s Sh 13 billion pioneer dam in Gatundu North, Kiambu County might not take off after landowners expected to cede their parcels for the project moved to court seeking its implementation halted.

In a petition seen by K24 Digital, John Mwangi Kariuki, James Muchai, Willy Githua, Patrick Kariuki and 485 other affected land owners want the court to declare that the process of implementing construction Ndarugu II dam project is marred with opacity, lack of information and suppression of free, prior and informed consent and is thus unconstitutional.

In the petition against Athi Water Services, National Lands Commission (NLC) and China Road and Bridge Corporation, the contractor also seeks to bar Athi Water’s staff, agents and employees from trespassing on their land.

The land owners also want the court to declare that the exercise by the respondents threatens and contravened the national principles of transparency, accountability, public participation and the rule of law under Article 10 of the constitution.

“The petitioner also wants to order the quashing of Gazette Notice No, 1644 dated February 10, 2023 – being the intention to acquire land for the construction of Ndarugu II dam project in Kiambu County,” the petition reads in sections.

The petitioners further want the court to declare the respondents as having acted in breach of due process.

According to the committee spearheading the anti-project process, the government failed to engage them since the proposal for the construction of the dam at Mwimuto, Gathaite, Gatei, Wathathi and Kanjuku villages was made.

Led by John Mwangi alias Muteti, the land owners’ representatives insist that this is one among many plans they have choreographed to fight the project they claim is set to impoverish them as they are used to richly farm on the required land.

“The government has contravened the law by imposing a project on us without even seeking our input. They have absolutely failed to engage the people from which the project is proposed to be put up. The fact that they have ignored the public participation policy is unconstitutional and we will not allow it to happen,” said Mwangi.

“The government is out of ideas on how to harvest rainwater. There are better ways of supplying water to the people without building dams and we are ready to show them how. It has been done in other countries such as Singapore, Malaysia among others so Kenya will not be the first country and we are ready to show them how,” Ng’ang’a Muthua, a leader in the committee said.

Adamant that the project will not continue whether the government handsomely compensates them or otherwise, the irate land owners and indigenous people who have lived and farmed at the proposed dam construction site for generations also insisted that releasing their traditional land for the project will cause them psychological trauma as they have firm attachment with their land.

Ndarugu II dam is among the 100 mega-dams that President Ruto’s administration is riding on to mitigate the raging drought occasioned by the shortage of rain.

The government says the dam will be used to conserve water for use in homes and farms during dry seasons.

Should the government manage to convince the affected persons, the 50m height water project will be the first one to be implemented before the other dams are built and is scheduled to boost water supply to various towns in Kiambu and Nairobi Counties.