Wealthy Kenyan heir cleared of murder charges

Thomas Cholmondeley (R), one of Kenya's most prominent white farmers, stands in the dock next to a Kenyan Police officer. Picture / Reuters

NAIROBI - Kenya's human rights watchdog expressed outrage at the dropping of murder charges against a white Kenyan farmer, saying it reinforced an image of racial discrimination in the courts dating to colonial times.

The Masai community threatened to invade white-owned farms after the heir of Kenya's most prominent white settler family walked out a maximum security prison.

Tribal leaders claim the government has whitewashed the case to protect the reputation of the Delamere family, the earliest and most famous white settlers in Kenya who became known for their hedonistic "Happy Valley" lifestyle.

The honourable Thomas Cholmondeley, son of Lord Delamere, had been accused of shooting a Masai game warden who had driven onto his 100,000-acre Soysambu ranch in the Rift Valley near Naivasha on April 19, but Kenya's Attorney General Amos Wako said there was not enough evidence for the case to proceed.

Instead, he directed that an inquest should be held, much to the fury of the Masai community who believed Mr Cholmondeley, a Kenyan citizen, should be tried for murder.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission said the case underlined a belief dating back to British colonial rule in two types of justice: "A harsh regime for poor Africans, and a pliable soft version amenable to the interests of rich white citizens."

The commission said other suspects accused of murder routinely spent years behind bars waiting for their cases to be processed, while the state had decided in "record time" to drop charges it had brought against Cholmondeley.

"The law should apply equally to all -- both to the rich and to the poor, both to black and to white citizens," it said.

"It is simply unacceptable that one case should be given special consideration and treatment at the expense of thousands upon thousands of other cases where suspects continue to languish in remand awaiting the hearing of their cases."

Yesterday the furious relatives of Samson Ole Sisina, the 45-year-old warden who was killed on Soysambu, told The Independent that his death would be avenged.

"The life of this man was very important to us and we will take action," said his nephew, Samuel Dere.

"If there is no justice for him, then hundreds will die to defend him. How can they say there is no evidence when a man is dead and his body buried in the ground? The Delameres did not even send one person to his burial."

Mr Sisina was the sole breadwinner in his extended family. As well as supporting his wife and eight children, he paid the school fees and hospital bills for his four brothers, three sisters and all their children. Now his family, who live the traditional Masai cattle-herding lifestyle, say they will be destitute.

"We can't let this go. He was the only member of this family of 50 people who had a wage and we all depended on him," said his brother Lemiyion.

"Because he died my children cannot afford to go to school."

Judge Muga Apondi appealed for "the family and colleagues of the deceased to be patient and await the outcome of the inquiry."

Mr Cholmondeley, who was arrested on 19 April, showed no emotion as he was driven out of Nakuru prison in a friend's four-wheel drive. The police van that had brought him to court had overturned en route, and his cream linen suit was flecked with the blood of some policemen who had been slightly hurt in the accident.

None of his family attended court yesterday, but his father, the 75-year old Lord Delamere gave a statement on Monday saying: " I'm very relieved that justice has been done. I very much regret the death of a promising young game warden. We felt my son had done nothing but defend my people."

The Masai community have always had an uneasy relationship with white farmers in the Rift Valley, who took possession of many of their most prized grazing areas at the beginning of the twentieth century.

They have tried unsuccessfully to win back their lands through the courts and many local community leaders now believe they must take direct action.

Edward Nkoiboni, a Masai councillor in Narok, said: "We are bitter, bitter, bitter about this. Our brother died and we went to the Kenyan government for help and they betrayed us. He (Mr Cholmondeley) is rich and we are poor, but we want justice all the same. We will decide what to do next but we may invade the farms, we may claim out ancient rights, and we are not afraid to die or kill for them. This government has already shown that it does not value life."

Police say Sisina was killed after approaching workers who had been preparing to chop up a buffalo carcass at a slaughterhouse on Cholmondeley's farm. Buffalo hunting is banned in Kenya without a licence.

The Delameres -- the title derives from family origins in the British aristocracy -- are prominent white ranchers who have lived in Kenya's Rift Valley for a century and have had close links to governments before and after independence in 1963.

The current Baron's stepmother outraged white Kenyan society in the 1940s with her love affair with the Earl of Erroll whose murder was recalled in the book "White Mischief".

The rights commission, a non-governmental organisation, pointed to the state's decision this week to quash a case brought by cameraman Clifford Derrick accusing the president's wife of slapping him when she staged a late-night visit to a newsroom to accuse journalists of lying about her.

Footage filmed by Derrick during the May 2 incident appeared to show Lucy Kibaki striking him and ordering him to stop recording her scathing attack on the media, but the attorney-general used colonial-era powers to block his case.

- INDEPENDENT and REUTERS