ODM leader Raila Odinga has warned coastal residents against trusting Deputy President William Ruto with land matters.
Speaking at Pongwe/Kidimu in Lungalunga Constituency on Tuesday, November 16, the former Prime Minister said the deputy president has direct interests in coastal land.
Raila warned the locals against voting for William Ruto saying the former Agriculture Minister will grab most of the land at the coastal region if elected the next president.
“The other candidate opposing me has a direct interest in Coastal land therefore he is a major threat to residents of this area,” Raila said.
Raila who was on a tour of the Coast to popularise his 2022 ambition said he will end the thorny land question that has dogged the region for decades.
He said that if elected the fifth president of Kenya, he will ensure cartels operating as private developers and defrauding locals of their ancestral land are prosecuted.
Raila wondered why influential people have continued to evict squatters claiming some of them use fake court orders.
“The land problem at the Coast started during the Arab rule and has persisted as many residents remain squatters. This must come to an end. I have a marshal plan to solve the land problems,
“I am aware Coast residents have been victims of historical land injustices for decades now but this will be a thing of the past next year,” Raila said.
Raila, who is speculated to be President Uhuru Kenyatta’s finest successor, was responding to calls by local leaders for intervention over the settlement of landless.
“Our people are suffering from the daily evictions. We ask you to assist in solving this problem of land justices,” Kwale Woman Rep Zulekha Hassan said.
