Two killed in Meru land conflict
Imenti South Sub County Police Commander William Maronga on March 3, 2022. He said two people were killed in suspected land dispute.
Police in Meru are investigating a Wednesday afternoon incident where two people were murdered in cold blood at Kaurone in Imenti South Sub County on the border with Tharaka Nithi County.
According to the police, the two, Julius Mworia and Jacob Kinoti, who are Githongo Tea Factory workers, had accompanied two Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) staff to assess a piece of land that the factory intends to buy for wood lots.
In the attack, two others escaped narrowly after they were tipped off by locals of the danger.
Imenti South Sub County Police Commander William Maronga said the four had just concluded studying the land and were heading back to their vehicles when the attackers struck.
He said investigators suspect that the land the factory has been prospecting may have a dispute which they were not privy to.
Detectives who visited the scene told Nation that the attack was brutal as the assailants picked one by one before killing them using different weapons.
“When the three reached the vehicle, they discovered that one of them had taken too long to arrive. One went back to check but he also failed to come back. The third one was going back to check when she received a warning from a resident. They fled the area and reported the incident to Mitunguu police station,” Mr Maronga said.
He said a search was mounted and the bodies of the two tea factory workers were discovered in the bushes.
“They were stabbed with poisonous arrows and left for the dead,” he said.
Mr Maronga said they were engaging their counterparts from Tharaka Nithi to widen the search for the perpetrators.
He warned locals against taking the law into their hands saying the killers must be brought to book.
Perpetrators being punished
A police officer who cannot be named since he is not authorised to speak to the media said the factory was interested in buying about 20 acres of land.
The bodies of the deceased were taken to Consolata Mission Hospital in Nkubu.
Following the incident, Imenti Central MP Moses Kirima and Meru Senator Mithika Linturi called on the police to fast-track investigations and ensure the killers are brought to book.
Mr Kirima said the attack is the third incident to happen along the Meru-Tharaka Nithi border and called for a lasting solution to the longstanding conflict along the boundary.
“The boundary between Meru and Tharaka Nithi is very clear and is public knowledge. Everyone has a right to own land anywhere and no one should take the law into their hands. We need to see the perpetrators being punished,” Mr Kirima said.
He accused government officers and politicians from Tharaka Nithi of legitimising the boundary conflict by ‘implementing projects and enforcing their mandate within Meru County’.
“Tharaka Nithi county government has built a dispensary within Meru County and has supplied drugs. Chiefs from Tharaka Nithi arrest people inside Meru and take them to police cells in Marimanti. This is what is fueling the boundary conflicts,” Mr Kirima claimed.
The perennial boundary conflict between Meru and Tharaka Nithi was a subject of the Ogongo Commission report which has never been implemented.
