Full details of the Kangaru village land dispute

Ruguru Muriithi (Second left).

Ruguru Murithi family in Embu Kangaru village claim that their land has been grabbed by brother to Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki, Justus Mugo.

A brother of Public Service CS Sicily Kariuki is embroiled in a land dispute with a poor family.

The family of 65-year-old Ruguru Murithi from Kangaru village, Embu West subcounty, yesterday said they are living in fear of being evicted after Justus Mugo allegedly bought their ancestral land from their estranged father without involving them.

Speaking to reporters at the disputed land where they have built mud houses, they said their father Murithi Gatima walked out on them three years ago and started cohabiting with another woman in the neighbourhood.

He later transferred their land to the woman without their knowledge before they learnt that she was selling it.

They said they have filed a caution restraining the woman from selling the land, and further filed a case against her and their father demanding a share at the Embu High Court.

The family, showing the case documents, said the court ruled in their favour and directed that each of them, including their mother, should get a quarter of an acre.

They said since they had exhausted all the cash they had in the civil case, they were unable to immediately raise survey fees to subdivide the land. It is during that period that they learnt the land had been sold to Mugo.

The family said they were also shocked at the speed in which the land was sold, despite the court ruling.

However, when contacted, Mugo said he followed the right procedure to buy the land after doing a search at the lands office to establish its status, and approached the registered land owner who sold it to him.

He said that the issue has been politicisedby his political rivals.