Nairobi, Kenya: Police are investigating an incident in which gunmen tried to forcefully gain entry into the Nairobi residence of the National Land Commission chairman Muhamad Swazuri.
Swazuri’s armed guard shot and killed one of the suspected intruders and injured another one as they sped off from the compound in Riara area near Ngong Road.
Swazuri was in his house with his family at the time of the incident at about 2 am on Wednesday, police said.
According to the guards at the compound, four people arrived in a Probox car and asked to be let into the compound because they wanted to drop Swazuri’s guest.
And after they alighted two of them grabbed a guard who was leading them the way and pressed them to the ground asking which VIP lived there as they tried to tie his hands.
Swazuri said an AP who was on duty and in his sentry noticed the commotion and stepped out, shot and killed one of the attackers and injured another one.
“Had it not been for the action by the AP the men could have harmed me and my family. We do not know what they wanted and who they were and it’s worrying,” said Swazuri.
The injured man ran out of the compound and jumped into the waiting car before they sped off.
Swazuri said his private guard and the police officer saw two rifles in the car that the men had before it sped off.
Police arrived at the scene moments after the incident and took away the body to the mortuary.
Dagorretti OCPD Rashid Mohamed said the slain man was a wanted armed suspect linked to a number of robberies in the area.
“We were looking for him for other matters and now you can see where he was found. We are also still looking for the other suspects who escaped,” said Mohamed.
He said the men wanted to get into Swazuri’s house.
As the chairman of the commission, Swazuri is currently handling several land matters.
The incident came at a time when the commission is yet to finish its work on investigations into the controversial allocations of 22 parcels of land in Lamu.
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The land, whose titles are under probe, were issued to individuals and companies and was for strategic reasons in preparations for the Lamu Port and South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor project. Swazuri and the commission are in Lamu to brief the local authorities on the progress of the probe amid claims of pressure to cancel the titles.
It also happened when the commission had recommended for a re-survey and re-establishment of boundaries for Mombasa, Eldoret and Cherangany State Lodges land.
The commission had said preliminary investigations have established that parts of State Houses and, or Lodges have been hived off and sold illegally to individual entities and companies.
State House had complained to the commission that land belonging to State Lodges had been grabbed or illegally allocated to individuals. This prompted the probe into the matter.
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