A Cabinet Secretary and a governor should have been investigated for their alleged roles in a string of murders that rocked a land-buying company in Muranga, a judge has said.

The top officials who also include a county commissioner and senior police officers are alleged to have instigated the killings that haunted Kihiu Mwiri Farmers Company to silence opposition to illegal acquisition of part of the 1288 acres owned by the firm.

In a judgment acquitting four suspects charged with the murder of the firm’s four directors, High Court Judge Joel Ngugi noted that some witnesses were terrified by the mention of Breeze Farm during open proceedings.
The witnesses would later, in private, testify that the firm was associated with the Cabinet Secretary.

“I also met [XX, a prominent lawyer] about Breeze Farm. I also know that the Cabinet Secretary XX, Cabinet Secretary in the National Government] was one of the owners of breeze Farm.  This was the name I did not want to mention.  These are the three people I know that claim Breeze belongs to them,” the judge recounted one of the witnesses whose identity is protected testifying.

Security team

“I know that the security team in Murang’a beginning with the County Commissioner and the owners of Breeze are the ones who contributed to the security situation at Kihiu Mwiri…..I said in my statement that I suspect that it was Kariuki Macharia group that caused the death. I also know that Breeze Ltd was involved in the deaths. This was the true cause of the conflicts of Kihiu Mwiri,” the judgement quotes the witness saying.
The witness was referring to a rival group which the court heard carved out a prime parcel of land belonging to Kihiu Mwiri and sold it to the company which was owned by prominent people in Government.

The parcel which was hived out of Kihiu Mwiri, according to the witnesses, is called Breeze Farm. It measures either 240 acres or 134 acres. Some witnesses said the sale agreement they had seen put it at 134 acres, but the actual land sold was 240 acres. The court was told that Breeze Farm is owned by a company called Breeze Ltd.

The judge noted that the desire by the powerful individuals to keep the land at all cost was one of the theories advanced for the brazen executions such as the one of Peter Kimani Kuria, who was shot inside his house by two gunmen in the presence of his wife and son in September 2014.

Kuria, who was running for chairmanship of Kihiu Mwiri, courted enemies because of his opposition to the use of fake certificates to sell bona fide members’ land and the sale of the company land to Breeze Ltd.
Son’s testimony

His son, Paul, testified that he saw the gunmen, one who had a “bigger” gun and after they had left he went to his father’s bedroom and found him lying on his back. He had been shot in the stomach and neck.

Paul told his mother that he had recognised the two assailants, but warned her not to tell anyone because he was afraid for their safety. He only mentioned the two names more than a year later, on May 13, 2016, when he was summoned to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters. 

“There is definitely much to be said about a plausible theory of the murders which was seemingly neglected by the investigators: that the members of the Ministry of Interior working in the region; Senior Police Officers; and Senior Government Officials were heavily involved, and, indeed, may have funded the death and destruction that reigned in Kihiu Mwiri for almost a decade,” Justice Ngugi stated in his judgement on July 15.

“Evidence suggested that they did all that for land. Despite flakes and nuggets of this theory coming out from the prosecution witnesses, there does not appear to have been any efforts whatsoever to consider or pursue this theory,” the judge added. 

The company that was formed in 1965 had until 2015 has been rocked by a series of assassinations and kidnappings. Up to 10 directors of the firm have been killed and at least five people have disappeared in the last two decades.

In 2015, President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered the Lands ministry to hasten the issuance of title deeds to members of the company to stop the bloodshed.