The number of murders witnessed in the recent past is worrying and the motives of such killings remain hazy at best. This was the case with Bashir Mohamud, a young vibrant entrepreneur whose future seemed so bright. At a young age, he had achieved what only many could dream of, only for his life to be cut short.
When news of his disappearance hit the media, family, friends and other people hoped he would be found alive. There was anxiety as they waited for him to return which only increased when the vehicle he was driving was found burnt to a shell in a thicket in Kibiku area, Ngong Kajiado county.
The family found out about the burnt vehicle and reported the matter at Kibiku police station. The officers found the car but went back to the station under unclear circumstances. Later, when the family accompanied by the police returned to the scene, the shell of the vehicle had mysteriously disappeared.
The question in people’s minds is who killed Bashir? Was he involved in terrorism activities? And if that’s the case why would he work on top government projects? Why would a man affiliated with terror be close to high ranking government officials including the president? But the most important of all, will the family get justice or will it end up as another unresolved case like many others in Kenya?
Age
The slain businessman was 36 years old. He was a Somali-US national.
Career
The US citizen was an engineer by profession and owned Infinity Development alongside some Kenyan partners. Infinity Development is a property development company with interests in Nairobi, Mogadishu and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Bashir is said to have acquired the company in 2015 when it was known as Horn Development and legally changed its name to Infinity Development. The company has worked on a number of very successful projects including one sponsored by the World Bank.
These projects include:
- Construction of the sh600 million Uhuru Business park in Kisumu. He even attended the official inauguration of the park alongside president Uhuru Kenyatta on 22nd October 2020.
- Construction of the 21-storeyed Huru Towers in Westlands, West Riverside Towers.
The company also built other luxury residential villas and business complexes.
In Somali, the company is famous for building Somali presidential palace, known as Villa Somalia and the Ministry of Health headquarters in Mogadishu.
Family
The Somali-US citizen was said to have been living with his wife in Lavington, Nairobi. In fact, reports say he tried to call his wife at one point but the call was interrupted.
Murder
After news of his disappearance, all hopes of him being found alive died on Saturday May 2021 when his body was found. The body had been taken to Kerugoya level 5 hospital mortuary after it had been recovered from River Nyamindi. His lawyers said the body bore scars of blunt trauma on the neck and back of the head.
“His neck also appears to have been snapped and there are scars on his chest which makes it looks like he had been dragged. There are no bullet wounds,” they said.
The lawyers also indicated that a postmortem would be done before the burial.
According to activist Boniface Mwangi, the death of Bashir was orchestrated by the police,. His tweet read:
Have you ever tried moving cargo, household goods, building materials or even animals, dead or alive?That’s when you learn police roadblocks are everywhere.For a body or a kidnapped person to be transported that far, it has to be police work.They also wanted the body to be found. https://t.co/Rbw0Hfnfrp
— Boniface Mwangi (@bonifacemwangi) May 23, 2021
Terror Links
The engineer was last seen at Miale entertainment lounge. In the CCTV footage, three people were seen making calls as they kept an eye on the lounge where Bashir was seated. The man was said to be involved in terrorist activities including fake currency trade.
The family, through their lawyer, denied this and said all his dealings were straightforward. The family also denied allegations that Bashir- who hailed from Belad Hawa, Somalia and was said to be involved in the political standoff in the country-used the proceeds of his trade to fund terror activities including those of Al-Shabaab. Next
