Wamuchomba to sue Gachagua over Githunguri land saga

By Newsflash Writer

Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba has threatened to sue former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over remarks that she has grabbed a 58-acre controversial land in Githunguri in Kiambu County.

Gachagua, who is also the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) leader, made the remarks after several elderly Kikuyu elders were teargassed by police on Thursday, April 9, when they tried to hold a cultural function at the controversial land to ‘protect’ from being grabbed.

In protest, the elders from the Kiama Kia Ma smashed traditional calabashes in protest over the hiving off the Githunguri Kia Wairera shrine land for the affordable housing project.

Gachagua later claimed that Wamuchomba and President William Ruto had joined hands to grab the land in guise of building the affordable housing project.

“Githunguri MP together with Kasongo [a nickname for President William Ruto] are planning to grab the cultural land. The claims of building affordable houses is just a bait to take it,” said Gachagua moments after the incident.

Wamuchomba demands apology

But on Tuesday, April 14, Wamuchomba said that Gachagua had tainted her name, and she would sue him, if he would not apologise.

“Politics aside, Gachagua really erred associating me with land grabbing at Githunguri while at Ukambani. What I hate about him is propagating lies. Why would a grown-up man lie, yet his wife is a pastor?” posed Wamuchomba in an interview with Inooro FM.

Read more: Wamuchomba quietly dumps Gachagua

“I am telling Gachagua and all those who recorded videos claiming that I have grabbed the land to apologise. Failure to that, I am going to sue them,” charged the MP.

Cultural protests and project dispute

In Kikuyu custom, the breaking of the traditional pots symbolizes the crushing of an undertaking and carries the weight of an irreversible curse unless special cleansing rituals are later performed.

In this case, the act was widely seen as a symbolic rejection of the affordable housing project planned on the culturally significant land.

Speaking at Marige village last Saturday, during an inspection tour of ongoing hostel construction for Githunguri Technical students, Wamuchomba dismissed the curses as meaningless, insisting that her Christian faith does not allow her to subscribe to Kikuyu traditional beliefs.

“Mnalaani nani? Hao ndo wamelaaniwa kwa sababu wanafanya maneno ambayo si ya watu wa dini ya Githunguri. Sisi hatuamini mambo hayo,” she stated.

She maintained that despite the protests and concerns raised by the elders, nothing will stop the ongoing construction of affordable houses, which she said will transform the area through job creation, decent housing and expanded economic opportunities.

The MP further insisted that the recognised local Kiama Kia Ma leadership had already approved the project and claimed the elders protesting at the site were strangers allegedly ferried from different parts of the country, including Mombasa, Kayole and Thika.

She linked the resistance to individuals with interests in the prime parcel, saying the opposition was being fueled by suspected land grabbers keen on frustrating the housing plan for their own benefit.