On Tuesday, April 29 2025, the Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin arrived in Angata Barikoi, Transmara South, Narok County, for a peace meeting.
Mr Kanja had led a delegation of senior security officials to the troubled region which had witnessed several days of bloody confrontations. Six people, among them a six-year-old child, had been felled by bullets reportedly fired by police officers.
The violence erupted after a convoy of General Service Unit (GSU) officers and officials from the Ministry of Lands attempted to commence a land adjudication process in the Moyoi Adjudication Section.
For many residents, the exercise threatened to dispossess families who had lived on the land for decades. Fearing displacement and the loss of ancestral heritage, the locals resisted, leading to bloody confrontations with the police.
In a bid to avert further bloodshed, Mr Kanja called for dialogue with the people of Angata Barikoi, hoping to listen to their grievances and chart a path towards a lasting and peaceful solution. The police helicopter, he and Mr Amin flew in landed at Angata Primary School grounds, where hundreds of residents had gathered.
The land in question, many alleged, was being grabbed by a powerful individual serving in the ruling Kenya Kwanza government, a claim that deepened suspicion and inflamed tempers.
Earlier, Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot, former Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto and Belgut Member of Parliament (MP) Nelson Koech had also arrived in Angata by helicopter. But when Mr Kanja and his entourage disembarked from the Police Air Wing aircraft, they were met by a scene thick with tension.
Inspector-General of Police Douglas Kanja.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
In a dramatic show of defiance, locals chased away dozens of GSU officers deployed to secure the venue. The air was charged; grief and anger hung like a storm cloud over the school grounds.
Mr Kanja and Mr Amin watched as residents confronted Mr Cheruiyot and other leaders, insisting that no meeting would proceed without their MP, Johana Ng’eno who had stood with them during the violence.
Sensing that the situation was spiralling out of control, Mr Kanja and Mr Amin retreated to their helicopter and remained inside for nearly an hour as negotiations unfolded outside.
Stranded in their helicopter
Moments after they withdrew, the helicopter that had ferried Mr Cheruiyot’s delegation took off once more, this time to search for Mr Ng’eno.
Vocal activist and Transmara South community leader Johana Kiprono, popularly known as Kamilan, recalls the day vividly.
“Mr Kanja had come without our Mr Ng’eno. We could not allow him to conduct the meeting without our fearless MP, who the previous day had been with us as police were shooting at us. We demanded his presence before any security meeting could take place,” Mr Kiprono said.
Emurua Dikirr Member of Parliament Johana Ng’eno during an event in Embu County on November 12, 2023.
Photo credit: Joseph Kanyi | Nation Media Group
A close associate of ‘Ngong’, as Mr Ng’eno is fondly called by his constituents, Mr Kiprono recounted how the search party first went to Mogondo, only to find that the MP had just left. He had travelled to Murkan Junction to visit an ailing friend – an elder in the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
“That is where they found him and brought him to the meeting,” Mr Kiprono added.
When the helicopter carrying Mr Ng’eno finally landed at Angata Primary School grounds, hundreds of residents who had waited since morning surged forward and carried him shoulder-high.
Only then did Mr Kanja and his team disembark from their aircraft once more, and the long-awaited meeting began.
“We want to know what really happened. Everyone in Emurua Dikiir wants the truth, because there is so much speculation about how Ngong and his friends met their deaths,” Mr Kiprono said.
Bismark Cheruiyot, a resident of Angata, said their faith in the fallen MP had been unwavering.
Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group
“Ng’eno stood with us when powerful people wanted to turn us into squatters on our own land. He would never betray us. That is why we kept electing him to represent us in Parliament. His death has hit us hard,” he said.
Abel Kipkoech, another resident of Emurua Dikiir, believes it may take years before the Kipsigis community finds a leader of Mr Ng’eno’s calibre.
“He was bold. He confronted his enemies head-on. He never shied away from challenging government policies that he felt undermined his people. We have lost a great man,” Mr Kipkoech said.
In Angata Barikoi, memories of that tense afternoon remain etched in the minds of many, the day senior security chiefs found themselves stranded in their own helicopter, and the arrival of one man transformed fury into dialogue.
