Two killed, 8 injured in land clashes

Two people were at the weekend killed and eight others injured following a land dispute in Mai Mahiu, bordering Kiambu County.

Shareholders of Utheri wa Lari were taken on Saturday on a tour of the 2,000 acre-land located just after Mai Mahiu shopping centre by their officials when they were attacked.

The land in dispute is owned by shareholders, most of them from Lari sub-county, which they purchased in the 70s.

Speaking from his bed at Kijabe Hospital, George Ironji said they had been invited by their officials for a tour of the land, but when they arrived at their offices they were surrounded by men from a pastoralist community who were armed with machetes, clubs and stones.

"I was injured on the head, nose and hand and I fainted since I suffer from epilepsy. I woke up in hospital. Those people were out to kill us," Said Ironji.

He vowed that once he is out of hospital he will go back there since he is a genuine shareholder and he also has a title deed to prove ownership.

Kiambu Governor William Kabogo and area MP Mburu Kahangara visited the injured in the hospital and condemned the attack.

They also called on the Government to investigate the matter and bring to book those who attacked the shareholders, adding that there are other avenues of resolving disputes other killing one another.

At the same time, they called on Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu and National Land Commission Chairman Mohammad Swazuri to resolve the issue once and for all.