A few weeks ago two more directors of Kihiu Mwiri land buying company in Muranga were shot dead, bringing to 8 the number of officials killed in less than 2 years.

In the past these were stories that were relegated to the inner pages of your local dailies but now they have come to national prominence. A land dealer, Paul Ngugi Kariuki who had been charged with defrauding a buyer of Sh 95 million was shot 15 times at 2am while he drove home along Forest Road, Nairobi on March 15th. On 5th October 2014 shrewd land dealer, Jared Odek Ochok was shot dead by unknown assailants in broad daylight along Manyanja Road in Tena estate.

Stephen Mwangi was not lucky either. The land dealer was accosted by unknown assailants and shot 13 times along Limuru Road on October 14, 2014. Other land dealers killed include Alfred Njau, who also worked as a senior manager at an insurance company. He was shot eight times in a drive-by shooting at the Ruiru-Ruai bypass. Onesmus Mutinda, a land surveyor within Ruai also met the same fate. He was shot 10 times along the same bypass.

What however I’d like to inform you today is the land disputes in which the directors have either gone missing, died mysteriously or shot in cold blood.  So without further ado click on the next page!

4. The 930 acre Waitiki farm in Likoni

Squatters invaded this piece of land at the height of the Kaya Bombo ethnic clashes that affected the Likoni area towards the 1997 general elections and chased away the owner, billionaire Evanson Waitiki. Since then Waitiki and the squatters have been embroiled in court battles. The government recently claimed to have acquired the piece of land after negotiating with Waitiki and plans to settle close to 120,000 squatters living on it. What you should know is nobody has died yet but tension is running high on the farm.

3. Twiga farm, Kiambu

2 people were killed and several others were injured on December 2012 on this farm. The 1200 acres of Twiga Farm lie in the heart of Kenya in Kiambu County, northeast of Nairobi. The area, with its green hills and fertile fields, first attracted land grabbers in the form of white settlers during the colonial regime. The Kikuyu, who had lived and cultivated these land for centuries were forcibly reduced to being workers on the white farms.

According to Leila van Rinsum who studied Political Science at the University of Nairobi, (She is  a copy editor with Pambazuka News and a freelance journalist) the case of Twiga Farm can be understood against this background. After Kenya got its independence, the British settler who ‘owned’ the land in the colonial system, gave it back to the people who had worked for him instead of paying out their retirement funds. The people of Twiga divided the land among themselves, built a school and a dispensary, and made a little town. The farm was even allocated a voting station since 1964- a sign that it was recognized as a legitimate community. However, Twiga Farm residents were never issued with modern title deeds. This was not unusual at the time and indeed is the case for many communities, especially those whose land was not seized under colonialism as it was a long way from the capital city, or not particularly fertile.

The thousands of acres of fertile land on Twiga Farm worth billions of Kenyan Shillings (millions of dollars) were bound to attract the interest of outside forces. In 2004, the company Mboi Kamiti claimed ownership over the land. The police threatened residents with eviction, but they responded by taking the case to court and the chief magistrate ruled in their favour declaring the residents as legal owners by right of adverse occupation.

And here is a video of the eviction taking place

Also here is a video about the bizarre murders on the farm

2. Mbo-I-Kamiti

Mbo-I-Kamiti was a successful farming company with a huge tract of land at Kamiti corner whose members are mainly drawn from Kiambu. The company was founded in 1971 to settle farmhands who had worked on white settler farms and widows of Mau Mau freedom fighters, where each member contributed Sh500. At the centre of the wrangles has been the bid to control the vast assets of the giant land buying firm, spread throughout the country, by rival camps.

The land is turning out into a cemetery in some parts as shareholders and their kin are buried there after several years of waiting for subdivision of their land that never materializes. The over 15,000 shareholders have been accused of forming cartels that hire criminals to kill other members of the management to gain control.

In May 2015 it was reported that the farm would be closed following the subdivision of the last parcels of land. More than six directors and a chairman have been killed in cold blood over the years. Other officials such as accountants and lawyers have also faced the same fate.

Here is a video showing the violence that has reigned in the farm

Last but not least;

1. Kihiu Mwiri land

It has been nicknamed the “Land of death”. As we told you earlier two more directors of Kihiu Mwiri land buying company in Muranga were shot dead, bringing to 8 the number of officials killed in less than 2 years. Three more directors are missing. After talks with the government, rival camps agreed to meet and find a solution to end the wrangles after almost two decades over control of 12,085 acres of land.

My ethnic community has a saying that goes like “tiri ni muroge” (the soil is cursed). Could this be why bloodshed and land disputes go hand in hand? If you inherited a parcel of land in these farms would you claim it or let it go? Engage me in the comments section below!