AIPCA Nyandarua South Archbishop Fredrick Wang’ombe has called on President Uhuru Kenyatta and Nyandarua Governor Francis Kimemia to intervene following the demolition of his home at Rwanyambo village in Kinangop.
His home, alongside 11 other houses belonging to family members were demolished on Tuesday by former Councillor and powerful Kinangop KANU chairman, Ayub Wang’ondu following a land ownership dispute which lasted for 22 years.
Their crops in the farms were also destroyed by hired youth who had police protection.
“We have informed the president about this matter. We have also informed Nyandarua governor, the county commissioner and other leaders, but we don’t know how powerful this person is that he would come with over 200 armed policemen to demolish our homes and destroy crops”, the cleric said.
The Bishop said that the land was allocated to his parents in 1964 after independence but ownership changed in the 90s “suspiciously”.
Wang’ombe said his father, Stanley Nderitu Ngari, moved to court to seek justice and doing everything to protect their property unsuccessfully. His parents, he said, succumbed to high blood pressure owing to stress from the court battle.
AIPCA Bishop John Maina, said that the 5 am incident caught families by surprise and children were thrown out of the houses.
Resident Njuguna Waweru said locals will reconstruct the demolished homes and put the government on notice that Wang’ondu will not be tolerated in the village adding that they cannot coexist with a land grabber.
Wang’ondu denied grabbing the 22.5-acre parcel from Wang’ombe family claiming that he was legally allocated the land and has all requisite legal documents. He further said that he won the legal contest against Ngari in 2012 but Ngari died before the resultant eviction order was executed, hence his family objected in court.
Wang’ondu said he won again in February this year, and the High Court in Nyahururu gave Wang’ombe’s family 60 days to vacate the disputed land but they failed to obey, hence the eviction on Tuesday.