By Isaiah Lucheli

NAIROBI, KENYA: Parties involved in the suit pitting Deputy President William Ruto and an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) Adrian Muteshi have filed final submissions in court.

The deputy president has been engaged in a court tussle with the IDP over the ownership of a 100-acre piece of land in Uasin Gishu County.

In the written submissions, the woman accused of having sold the land fraudulently to Ruto has said that she was innocent and had not been involved in the transactions that led to the transfer of the land from the IDP to Ruto.

Dorothy Yator stated that she had never had any dealings with Ruto, a surveyor who subdivided the land and the ministry of lands, which issued title deeds.

Through her lawyer Mburu Maina she explained that she had never applied for consent from the land control board to subdivide or transfer the land and never entered into contract to sell the land.

Yator, in the submissions added that she had never met the deputy president and she was a stranger to all allegations levelled against her in respect to the said land.

She added that the purported signatures on all the documents relating to the land had been forged and that she never appeared before any designated officer for verification and attestation of her signatures in relation to the parcels of land belonging to the IDP.

On his part, Muteshi through lawyer Anthony Lubulellah submitted that his property was destroyed in 2008 by persons who he got to know had been bought by the deputy president.

The Deputy President has submitted that he is a victim of fraud as he had paid all the amount of money that the vendors of the nine parcels of land had demanded.

Through lawyer Katwa Kigen, Ruto had further reported the matter to the Criminal Investigation Department to institute investigations into the matter.

A litigation Counsel at the Attorney General’s Office Nguyo Wachira submitted that the land surveyor had acted recklessly as he had subdivided the land without seeking the alleged owner Yator or conducting a search. He is representing the AG and the Lands Ministry.

“The surveyor failed to produce the search document the basis upon which he entered into the suit parcel of land. In view of the evidence provided the subdivisions are a nullity as it emanated from a title that was invalid,” said Guyo.

The suit will be heard on Monday next week before high court judge Rose Ougo.