Former Presidential hopeful Cyrus Jirongo battled it out in court with a 70-year-old woman he had accused of trespassing into his property.
On Tuesday, the politician testified against the lady who he alleged took over the land measuring about 10 acres and valued at more than Ksh300 million registered under Kuza Farms Limited, a company which Jirongo is chairman.
Jirongo told Chief Magistrate Charles Obulutsa that Mary Njoki had refused to move from the property since 2015 and she turned to violence chasing him away with a panga when he and his agents asked her to leave.
He further stated the land’s title had been charged at the collapsed Post Bank where his company took a Ksh1.2 billion loan.
[caption caption="Politician Cyrus Jirongo testifies before Eldoret court"]
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“I have repaid much of the money. This land is one of the properties we have earmarked for sale so as to clear the remaining Ksh280 million of the debt," the former Lugari MP remarked.
“At one time last year I had to run away because when I visited the farm, she became very noisy and wielded a panga. I feared that I would land in the media for fighting with such an old woman," he added.
The former lawmaker told the Eldoret court he avoided any form of confrontation with Njoki out of respect.
“She is very old. It would be unwise for me to use force by sending people to evict her," Jirongo told the court during his testimony.
Jirongo narrated to the court how he bought the farm from two people in 1996 and a man identified as Radion Ntabo later introduced him to several squatters including Njoki.
Last year, Ntabo and the other squatters agreed to move after learning the land belonged to Jirongo but Njoki declined after which she was arrested and charged with forcefully holding onto the land.
[caption caption="Former Presidential hopeful Cyrus Jirongo"]
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Njoki denied the charges and noted she had lived on the property for several decades adding that Jirongo had not issued her with a notice to vacate the property.
