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On May 6, 2016, at 9.30 p.m., the body of Kenyan businessman Jacob Juma was discovered on Ngong Road in Nairobi, lying in a pool of blood.
Jacob Juma, who was born in 1971 in the village of Mungore in Kenya’s Bungoma County, had been a relentless opponent of corruption and a close friend to several opposition figures. He did not hesitate to denounce corruption; in fact, he freely discussed the pervasive problem on social media.
Politicians, government employees, and businesses are among those reportedly involved in corruption in Kenya. In order to safeguard their own financial interests, some members of the country’s business sector have been known to back dishonest politicians, while politicians frequently look to benefit greatly from entrepreneurs during election campaigns.
Jacob Juma had declined to participate in this corrupt system. As a self-made billionaire in Kenya’s business community, he had crossed paths with powerful figures in the executive branch. Juma, however, refused to put up with such criminality, in contrast to many of his cadres who would purposefully disregard political misbehavior to preserve good ties. He thereafter rapidly turned into a foe of the corrupt.
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Following Jacob Juma’s death, opposition leaders accused Deputy President William Ruto of being to blame for all the problems the late Jacob Juma had to deal with. Ruto was one of the most influential leaders in the country who had frequently been implicated in corruption scandals in Kenya; Juma had continued to confront the issue, which made him an immediate target. Juma had once claimed in a Facebook update that Ruto was attempting to have him assassinated. Juma’s passing was significant since it occurred during a period of intense political unrest before the elections the following year.
According to Philip, Jacob Juma’s brother, “political tensions were very high in this country at the time of his death.” We opted to remain silent and go underground because we were also afraid for our lives. Everything was turned over to the government.
Raila Odinga Speaks about Jacob Juma’s Death
Recently, Raila Odinga, the head of the opposition, took the initiative to draw attention to the problem of government corruption. Odinga freely discussed Jacob Juma’s death at his political rallies after hearing about it and joined those who strongly decried the crime. Many Kenyans have also denounced the incident on social media, labeling it a political assassination.
Boniface Mwangi, a political activist, and human rights defender lamented: “Killer cops are a danger to everyone” in a tweet on August 1. They are the same people that politicians and businesspeople employ to kill their competitors. For example, contract killer cops were responsible for the high-profile killings of George Muchai, Chris Musando, and Jacob Juma.
Mwangi noted that political activists who have publicly denounced corruption had been killed before in Kenya. Dissenters have frequently been killed by organized criminal groups, frequently without anybody being held accountable. A security specialist in Kenya named George Musamali claims that at least one assassination has been documented in Kenyan history since 1969: ‘Among those we have seen are Dr. [Odhiambo] Mbai, Robert Ouko, and Tom Mboya. Their deaths were all connected to politics. The only way to silence these well-known political figures was to kill them.
Mwangi and Musamali singled out the murder of Chris Musando, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission’s head of information technology, who died a few days before the nation’s general election in August 2017. According to Musamali, “He wanted Kenya to have a clean election and he was targeted for his stand.” Sadly, Kenyans stopped speaking after his passing, even though he was advocating for them. Such events are meant to subvert democracy, intentionally frighten opponents, and foster fear among the populace.
Jacob Juma’s murder was thought to have been a similarly well-planned incident involving some of the powerful people he knew. For starters, the attackers appeared to follow well-defined instructions; they followed Juma, looked to be aware of his movements, and avoided locations where CCTV cameras were in operation. Although it’s unknown where Jacob Juma’s automobile was ambushed, the killers shot Jacob Juma on Ngong Road, a road without any surveillance cameras.
It is unclear whether Juma’s political stance or business dealings led to his murder. But it’s obvious that he sensed his life was in danger even a year before he passed away. Additionally, he had expressed concern about his coming death a number of times, which worried his family and supporters.
Philip claims that Jacob Juma’s family was aware that his life was probably in danger: “Before he died, he talked about his life being in danger on social media, and he also confided in us as a family.” We accompanied him as he went to make statements about it. After learning of the report, the law enforcement officials did nothing. We were still concerned for his safety when the unexpected occurred: He was brutally murdered by unidentified assailants.
Similarly, despite the government’s assurances that it will look into his killing and hold those accountable, nothing has been said regarding the investigations’ current state. Philip described the suffering his family has experienced following his brother’s passing. We have not heard anything regarding the investigations that the government promised to provide us, he remarked in a trembling, heavy voice.
There has been complete stillness throughout. Nothing is happening, and the government hasn’t even spoken to us about the death of our brother. They pledged to look into the case and apprehend the murderers.
“As a family, we have been praying—and we still pray—that we will receive justice for the passing of our brother,” he concluded.
When our brother spoke out against corruption and those who supported it, he later lost his precious life.
Musamali claims that because no inquiry has been conducted, it is impossible to determine with any degree of certainty if Juma’s death was the result of an assassination. In spite of this, he acknowledged that it is the most likely explanation: “He might have been killed by a criminal gang or any other organized group that could have targeted him because of his business dealings and political associations.” However, we can generally assume that it was an assassination.
Musamali noted that such crimes always provide challenging investigations since the perpetrators of such homicides make sure to leave no physical traces of their actions. Indeed, Juma’s killers had altered the scene of the crime after shooting him numerous times, according to Ndegwa Muhoro, the director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at the time of his death.
But the lack of police autonomy is a second issue with such investigations. Musamali stated, “In Africa, we don’t have autonomous police units. Due to political predisposition, it is difficult to follow up on these situations. When police learn the cause of death, there is typically no political will and no care.
Read: How Jacob Juma’s murder was planned and Executed
In Kenya, security forces engaged in extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances while operating with impunity, according to a 2016/17 human rights report by Amnesty International. By October 2016, at least 122 people had perished, all of whom were members of the political opposition, civil society activists, or journalists. The death of Juma and others also brings attention to the human cost of corrupt government practices, even though Kenya’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission estimates that corruption costs the country at least 30% of its GDP annually, or around $6 billion USD.
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