Former Attorney General and Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi has revealed details of a tense Cabinet exchange with President William Ruto, accusing his government of mishandling a controversial 11,000-acre land acquisition.
Muturi said the confrontation took place during a Cabinet retreat at Lake Naivasha Resort, where he was summoned by Water CS Alice Wahome to join a meeting around a bonfire attended by President Ruto, then Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Treasury CS Prof Njuguna Ndung’u, Roads CS Kipchumba Murkomen, and Principal Secretaries Chris Kiptoo and Nixon Korir.
According to Muturi, President Ruto reminded him of a campaign pledge to resettle the landless before accusing him of being a stumbling block to the process. “The President told me that Wahome and Korir were complaining that I had become an obstacle. He explained that 11,000 acres had already been acquired—5,000 for the Naivasha Inland Container Depot and 6,000 for settlement of the landless,” Muturi recalled.
But Muturi said he opposed the plan, citing irregularities. “I had already issued a legal advisory to the Ministry of Lands flagging 19 issues that had been mishandled. One of them was that the Principal Secretary is not the CEO of the Settlement Fund Trustee, yet the documents had been signed by the PS,” he said.
The former AG’s remarks underscore growing cracks within the Cabinet and point to lingering questions over the integrity, legality, and transparency of land transactions under President Ruto’s administration.
