The Invasion Of Kenyatta Family Land Caught Many By Surprise

By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga

Worth Noting:

• A section of the social media indicated the investment is worth Sh500 billion, which include Brookside Dairy and Peponi School.
• Apart from torching a section of the property, the raiders stole hundreds of goats and sheep and badly damaged a building that houses the farm’s management office.
• The animals were carried by the boda boda riders and sold across the road at the throw way price of Sh500 and Sh1000.
• Most of them were bought by motorists as the expansive land is located along the Eastern Bypass.
• The invasion came on yet another day of violent and bloody confrontations between the demonstrators and the security forces.

The invasion of NorthLands farm caught many by surprise because this is the first time they have seen this new form of crime taking place on our soil.

Before they used to read these stories of the invasions targeting the properties of the high-profile politicians and rich families in the media.

A friend of mine told me he only heard such invasions taking place in Zimbabwe during the reign of the late president Robert Mugabe.

Those targeted were the British white settlers who opted to stay on after that country, initially a colony of Britain, got its independence.

After violent evictions that forced most of them to flee back to thier motherland in Britain, Mugabe dished out the vast land to his cronies, particularly the top military generals.

This was at the expense of the poor he had used to evict the settlers.

In Kenya, the difference is that it is not foreigners being targeted.

The intruders are targeting fellow Kenyans in what is shaping up as intra-ethnic attacks.

The Northlands farm (city) is owned by the family of former President Uhuru Kenyatta.

A section of the social media indicated the investment is worth Sh500 billion, which include Brookside Dairy and Peponi School.

Apart from torching a section of the property, the raiders stole hundreds of goats and sheep and badly damaged a building that houses the farm’s management office.

The animals were carried by the boda boda riders and sold across the road at the throw way price of Sh500 and Sh1000.

Most of them were bought by motorists as the expansive land is located along the  Eastern Bypass.

The invasion came on yet another day of violent and bloody confrontations between the demonstrators and the security forces.

This  was the second major demonstration called by the Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition leader Raila Odinga as he rolled out  the second phase of the protests.

Raila’s family business, the Spectre International,   a company that ventures in Lequified Petroleum Gas (LPG) was also targeted.

The people who raided the Kenyatta’s property were so daring as reports indicated they stayed in the farm for several hours while undertaking their criminal activities.

If it is true that the law enforcers did not respond to distress call, this question that comes to mind is. Had this invasion been planned and executed with full knowledge of some senior Kikuyu leaders in government?

It Is too early to know where the truth lies.

We heard the names of certain Kikuyu leaders being dropped. However, no concrete evidence had been abducted, apart from referring to the comments made by these leaders a few days earlier.

A number of them had repeatedly claimed that President Kenyatta was sponsoring the mass actions called by Azimio leaders.

We are telling him to stop doing this. Raila demonstrations are targeting the business and properties of our   people, particularly small scale business people. When you support this kind of lawlessness, do you think the properties of your family are safe? These poor people can also target your wealth.

The claims that former President is supporting Raila led mass action have never been proved beyond reasonable doubt.

On his part, Uhuru has never responded. Besides, he has not participated in any of these demonstrations organized by his ‘handshake’ partner Raila.

But again, the question we should ask is. What does the constitution say?

It is true that Article 37 of the Supreme Law allows the protests.

Equally, the same law requires the protests to be peaceful and the protestors participating to be unarmed.

Is Azimio complying with these legal requirements?

The opinion is always divided. The Kenya Kwanza government believes they were not.

But the opposition coalition and a section of the human rights groups including Muslim For Human Rights (Muhuri) disagrees.

They say the demonstrations are always peaceful but turn violent when the riot police disrupt them.

Whichever the case, the buck stops with government. The state has a responsibility to ensure all citizens complies with law and order, no matter your status in the society.

The onus to apprehend those destroying properties and endangering the lives of the people lies with the National Police Service (NPS).

For now, one thing is clear. In these demonstrations, it is not only the properties of the poor being targeted.

The businesses owned by high and mighty are also targeted.

The law should be applied equally when dealing with these law-breakers and criminals.

Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political analyst based in Nairobi

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