This archive report was first published on 4 September 2019.
July 2017: Members of Kihiu Mwiri Land Company protest outside Ardhi House in Nairobi, demanding the release of their title deeds.
Despite a High Court judge's damning verdict against Government agencies in July 2019, the matter seems to have rested with no investigations opened against senior politicians and Government officials mentioned by witnesses.
Relatives and friends of the murdered directors now question why, despite the judge's ruling, no action has been taken against officials who allegedly threatened Kihiu Mwiri officials who later disappeared or were killed.
"One senior Government official has clearly been mentioned by many witnesses for threatening officials of Kihiu Mwiri who later disappeared or were killed but there were no attempts to record statements," said one relative.
Justice Joel Ngugi, in his judgement acquitting the last four of 18 suspects initially charged with the killings in September 2015, termed the trial for the murders as "no more than a window-dressing exercise."
The judge also stated that 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.
