Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate William Ruto has said that he has no appetite for land.
Speaking during the Presidential debate, Ruto insisted that all the land he owns was acquired legally.
He went on to say that he was also a victim of fraudulent land sellers in regard to the Muteshi land saga.
Ruto stated that the court ordered him to pay the owner of the land for the duration he had 'owned' the land.
"Any piece of land I have is legally acquired. I was a victim of fraudulent land. What the court ordered me to do was to pay for the three years I was on that land," he said.
He added that the people who conned him are currently in court over the land and the case is ongoing.
Adrian Muteshi was displaced from Eldoret during the 2007 post-election violence and his farm taken.
He accused Ruto of unlawfully taking over his 100-acre farm in Uasin Gishu and sought court intervention.
The High Court in Nairobi ruled that Muteshi had proved that the property was his and that he had been deprived of it.
In turn, Ruto was ordered to pay Sh5 million to the post-election violence victim for illegally occupying his land.
Ruto through his lawyers said that he was an unsuspecting buyer who heard that some land was being sold and conducted due diligence before purchasing it from people he believed were the owners of the property.
Muteshi, 86, died in Nairobi in October 2020.
