Gachagua Claims Ruto Has Sold All Prison Land

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has alleged that President William Ruto's government has sold all land belonging to Kenya Prisons to pave the way for more houses under the Affordable Housing Programme (AHP).

Speaking as he attended the launch of Martha Karua's People’s Liberation Party (PLP) on Thursday, February 27, Gachagua claimed that Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen and his Lands counterpart Alice Wahome have embarked on plans to sell the land to investors for the program.

To prove his claims, he gave an example of one of the prison lands in Nairobi valued at Ksh1 trillion, alleging that the government would sell it to an individual tasked with building houses under Ruto's pet project.

Furthermore, the houses, according to Gachagua, will be funded by proceeds from the Housing Levy charged on Kenyan employees' payslips and upon completion, will be sold to members of the public.

"As we speak, a Cabinet memo has been written by CS Interior and CS Lands & Housing of getting all prison land...all prison land has been sold to investors under the guise of affordable housing. If you check the prison land here in Nairobi West, it is worth Ksh1 trillion. Somebody will be given that land to build houses," he revealed.

"Those houses will be built with money derived with money got from deducting Kenyans' payslips and then the houses will be sold to you. So it is not that the person will be given that piece of land for free, President Ruto and his allies have sold every piece of land belonging to prisons in the whole country and a Cabinet memo has been prepared which will go to Cabinet."

Gachagua urged Members of Parliament (MPs) and Senators to oppose the plan, alleging that the government intends to sell the land and relocate the prisons elsewhere.

He also criticized Ruto, arguing that the decision was misguided and would place an additional financial burden on taxpayers.

"Onyonka and the MPs you must stand up and we cannot agree. How do you give public land to investors without consideration? It is a scheme to sell all the land meant for prisons and the prisons will be relocated elsewhere at another great cost," he added.

He pledged to stand with Kenyans in ensuring government accountability and went on to assert that he possesses detailed knowledge of Ruto’s plans and vowed to keep the public informed.

“Those are things we will continue calling out. I have the full dossier, and I will be relieving slowly so that I don’t want to choke you,” he stated.

He also accused President Ruto of deceiving Kenyans, alleging that he intended to exploit and later abandon former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.