Ruto agrees to give back land to IDP

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Photo/FILE Eldoret North MP William Ruto addresses a crowd during a rally in Bomet.  

By PAUL JUMA pjuma@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Monday, March 5  2012 at  15:15

Eldoret North MP William Ruto has agreed to relinquish a 100-acre land he is accused of grabbing from a man displaced by Kenya's post-election violence.

In an out of court agreement, Mr Ruto has offered to leave the land belonging to Mr Adrian Gilbert Muteshi by April 10.

Mr Muteshi was displaced from the Uasin Gishu farm in 2008.

The Eldoret North MP said that he required two weeks to remove his properties including fences and hedges from the land in a concession filed in court on Monday.

Relinquishing the land is part of an out-of-court settlement being negotiated by Mr Ruto and his accuser.

The deal is yet to be fully agreed on. Mr Muteshi insists that the United Democratic Party (URP) presidential candidate must compensate him and bear the cost of the suit.

Mr Muteshi filed the suit in 2010, two years after he fled for safety as violence rocked the Rift Valley and other parts of Kenya following a botched presidential vote.

He says that he had been the owner of the land and farmed on it since 1989, having acquired it from a white settler.

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He told the court how he returned to the farm after the violence had subsided to find that Mr Ruto had not only taken over, but his workers had been kicked out too.

Grab

Mr Ruto has denied grabbing the land.

He said that it was sold to him by one Dorothy Jemutai Yator, but authorities later discovered that the title was not properly processed.

Mr Ruto’s lawyers informed Lady Justice Rose Ougo last month that the MP wanted a negotiated settlement of the dispute.

The judge had given them up to March 5 to negotiate.

On Monday, the lawyers representing both parties filed the notice of concession in which Mr Ruto conceded being in possession and proprietorship of the property.

The MP has also conceded title to ownership of the land.