Key leaders probed over Lamu deaths

Leading businessmen and politicians in Lamu County are being targeted in the ongoing investigations following the killing of more than 60 people in Mpeketoni and Witu in the past two weeks, security officials have revealed.

Senior officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and the National Security Intelligence have camped in the area and are sifting through documents they suspect link the individuals to the attacks.

The documents include recordings of the speeches they made during political rallies and intelligence briefs filed ahead of last year’s General Election.

Security officers who talked to the Nation on condition of anonymity said they were investigating reports that businesspeople and leaders who have been eyeing prime land in Lamu were whipping up tribal and religious emotions so that those who occupy the land can leave for fear of being attacked. The suspects are being accused of seeking to occupy land left by those who flee.

“Nobody will be spared in the investigations,” said Lamu West Deputy County Commissioner Frederick Ndambuki while giving an update on the status of investigations. “The people on the ground are giving us useful intelligence information which will help us get to the root of the killings.”

He also said security personnel were alert to ensure there were no repeat attacks.

The killings in Poromoko and the latest ones in Kaketho in Witu have been described as evictions going by the accounts of the survivors, many of who have taken refuge at the Mavuno camp despite pleas by the Inspector-General of Police, Mr David Kimaiyo, that they should return to their homes.

“We have been receiving warnings to vacate the land several times and even during the recent attacks, the people who were carrying out the killings kept on saying that we have been given enough time to leave,” said Mr Jonathan Kaingu Ngowa, who survived the Witu attack.

Mpeketoni residents also said that some political aspirants threatened them in the run-up to the March 4, 2013, elections, warning them that landowners from upcountry would be ejected.

Detectives said they were zeroing in on individuals who own thousands of acres and who are linked to the recent attacks which they said were executed after the profiling of certain communities and thousands of squatters.

Security sources told the Nation that it was only a matter of time before heads start to roll as they close in on the masterminds of the atrocities.

“There are some well-connected and rich individuals who have acquired huge chunks of land in Lamu under dubious means who are bent on ensuring that some of those who have been living in the area are evicted,” the source said.

“There have been several attempts in the past, with the help of some unscrupulous officials in the provincial administration to evict people who have lived in certain areas either because they want to create exclusive livestock corridors or just for mere speculation.”

Investigations have also been launched to establish the authenticity of title deeds held by some of the ranchers in Lamu after it emerged that the manner in which they were acquired was suspect.
“Our investigations will take us to the Lands offices to establish how individuals were able to get such huge chunks of land,” said a senior official.

But even as the government sets eyes on getting to the bottom of the killings, a major conflict pitting pastoralists and farmers in Lamu and Tana River counties is looming.

The influx of pastoralists and encroachment on government land by squatters who also want to be allocated part of the land have given government agencies sleepless nights.

A meeting called by Lamu County Commissioner Stephen Ikua at Pangani in Mpeketoni attended by representatives of the pastoralist and farming communities in the Witu and Mpeketoni areas only helped to augment these fears.

Although government officials talked tough during the meeting, the tone of the speakers from both sides confirmed the growing tension as representatives of the rival communities tried to justify their quest for more land.

Title deeds

Mr Ndambuki set the agenda for the meeting by saying that it was not a secret that there was conflict between the pastoralists and farmers.

Although the farmers have formal structures, including title deeds and letters of allotment, pastoralists are often seen as trespassers.

Mr Abdi Osman, one of the elders representing the herders, said they had no place to herd their animals because the land was either owned by farmers, was under private conservancies or was public forest land.

“Where do you want us to go? Are we not Kenyans who have as much right to practise our economic activity just like anybody else?” he asked.

Lamu West member of Parliament Julius Ndegwa traced the land problem to the law that classified most land in Lamu as government land.

“Unscrupulous people — mainly those well connected in government — took advantage of this and the corruption at the Ministry of Lands to acquire titles on land where people had lived for decades only for them to be evicted,” he said.