73-Year-Old Widow Buys Nation Ad Space To Protest Against Govt Official
As a result of the bold action, Njoka complained that she could not gain access to her property, leaving her to explore other alternatives.
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A 73-year-old widow in Embu spent up to Ksh137,500 on advertising space in the Daily Nation newspaper to protest against a government official who had cut off access to her house.
In her protest letter she wrote to Governor Cecily Mbarire, Zainabu Ramadhan Njoka complained that the official in her administration had daringly erected a wall at the entry point of her home located at Dallas Estate in Kirimaru Ward.
As a result of the bold action, Njoka complained that she could not gain access to her property, leaving her to explore other alternatives.
Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire speaking during an Interdenominational Thanksgiving Service at the Sagana State lodge, Nyeri County on August 6, 2023. /CECILY MBARIRE
"Your Excellency, my name is ZAINABU RAMADHAN NJOKA, 73 years old, a widow and the owner of plot number Gaturi/Githimu/2487, a freehold property in Dallas Estate, Kirimari Ward-Embu County.
"Your Excellency, the entrance to my home is now permanently blocked after someone in your government saw it fit to fence off the road fronting it and put up a permanent building (hall) on it," she wrote.
According to Njoka, the road in question was carved out during the subdivision of her family land close to 50 years ago.
Since that time, she has always used the road to gain access to her house and it was marked it as a public access road in the Registry Index Map (RIM) to date.
She lamented that she had to seek the help of neighbours to access her property where she is spending her retirement after the official blocked direct access to the property.
Njoka termed it unfair that she was forced to use all manner of alternatives to gain access to her home yet the schemers and executors of the plan to lock her out of her house were enjoying unrestricted access to their homes.
"Your Excellency, while I am forced to beg for passage through my neighbour's property to reach my house on my sunset days, the schemers and executors of this act of impunity are enjoying unrestricted access to their home," she added.
Njoka went on to accuse the county government of frustrating her efforts to access her property which she also pays land rates for, which she was barricaded from accessing.
She revealed that the National Lands Commission (NLC) had ordered the official not to erect a building on the road, but the official ignored the orders.
"Your Excellency, we sought the intervention of the National Lands Commission on the matter, but the directive from the NLC to the county not to construct a building on the road, was ignored.
"Your Excellency, I implore you to intervene and order the reopening of the road so that I can regain unrestricted access to my house. Please end my suffering at the hands of county officials," she pleaded.
Mbarire was yet to respond to the letter by the time of publishing.
