An angry mob cornered and lynched a middle-aged Sunday night after they allegedly found him red-handed preparing to spray a maize farm with unknown herbicides in Uasin Gishu County.
The victim was among a group of five goons who had been allegedly hired to spray the unknown chemical on part of the disputed 1,300 Sergoit farm which is under maize crops.
Moiben sub-county police commander Stephen Okal confirmed the incident saying that four of the victim’s accomplices escaped death by a whisker from enraged members of the public.
“Police officers who were alerted about the incident rushed to the scene and managed to rescue the four goons who are in police custody to assist with investigations into the matter,” said Okal.
According to Okal, the developer duped the five goons that he was giving them a genuine casual job in Eldoret only to end up at the disputed farm on the fateful night.
The agricultural land which is situated in Moiben Sub County has been under ownership dispute for more than two decades between 500 families and a private developer.
According to the spokesperson of the families, Yusuf Keittany, the land was allocated to them by the government after they surrendered their parcels of land 30 years ago to pave the way for the construction of public institutions.
Some of the institutions include St Patrick’s Boy high school, Iten County referral hospital and Tambach teachers training college in Elgeyo Marakwet County.
He asked the government to intervene by helping them settle on their property saying interference from a private developer had hampered their efforts to carry out development activities on the land.
“This is our land, we have been living here since 1978 when the government gave us the property as compensation for the parcels of land we surrendered to pave the way for the construction of public institutions,” said Keittany