Two men have been killed in separate incidents at Del Monte’s Kenyan pineapple farm in the past week, amid unrest and calls for the fruit giant to reassess its approach to security. Del Monte’s vast pineapple farm has been the site of numerous allegations of violence and killings, many of which were first revealed by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and the Guardian in 2023. The allegations span decades, and TBIJ has investigated at least 11 deaths, including four men found dead in a river in December 2023. On Friday August 8, Michael Muiruri Murigi was knocked off a motorbike by a pickup truck while travelling on a road that bisects the farm. The pickup driver was a G4S guard, police told TBIJ. G4S has provided security services to the farm in Murang’a, Kenya, since March 2024, when the company was brought in as part of an overhaul meant to end violence on the plantation. Muiruri, a vegetable seller who had been riding pillion, was then run over by the same pickup, according to a police report. Brian Kuria Mithoni, who was driving the bike, was also injured in the collision. The pair were taken to a nearby hospital where Muiruri later died. A post-mortem found multiple injuries, including to his pelvis and chest. Both the pickup and motorbike were detained by the police, who said they were treating the incident as an accident. The guard was arrested and charged with “causing death by driving”.

Kuria told TBIJ he believed the collision was intentional, as they were not on a bend so would have been visible to the driver. He was unsure, however, why he and Muiruri could have been targeted. There has long been tension between the security on the farm and locals. Poverty and unemployment are high and some young men steal fruit to sell by the side of the road. Muiruri’s death prompted violent protests at the farm. During a clash on Tuesday, one man – named by police as Harrison Kibandi Marubu and by local media as Stephen Marubu – was shot dead by police. The county police commander told TBIJ that the death occurred after about 150 pineapple thieves “armed with machetes [and] stones” ambushed officers and G4S guards while they were on patrol. A G4S vehicle was burnt. The death is being investigated by the Kenyan Independent Police Oversight Authority… Local politicians have been swift to condemn the killings. In a Facebook post on Thursday, the MP Wakili Edward Muriu said that the “tragic deaths of Michael Muiruri and Stephen Marubu cannot be measured, justified, or replaced by pineapples or by money”. He called for the international community to boycott the “blood pineapples” and for Del Monte to apologise to the families of victims. In a statement, Joe Nyutu, a senator for Murang’a county, also condemned the two deaths, referring to them as “cold-blooded killings”. He said they were part of a “long and shameful history of human rights violations on Kenyan soil by a multinational company.” The tragic deaths of Michael Muiruri and Stephen Marubu cannot be measured, justified, or replaced by pineapples or by money

Wakili Edward Muriu, MP for Gatanga, Kenya

On the border of Murang’a and Kiambu counties, around 40 km northeast of Nairobi, Del Monte’s 80 sq km farm has long been a centre of tensions with the local community. They often refer to the land as “kwa guuka”, meaning “our grandfather’s” because families were evicted from the land when it was first acquired by the company decades ago. After TBIJ first investigated, Del Monte commissioned a damning human rights audit by the consultancy Partner Africa. Subsequently Del Monte fired more than 200 of its in-house guards and outsourced security to G4S. However, last October, TBIJ reported allegations that G4S guards had beaten and robbed a man and left him for dead. G4S said it cooperated with the police over the incident and strongly disputed any suggestion that Duncan Ndegwa, 55, had been assaulted by its officers. The company claimed Ndegwa was a pineapple thief, which he denies. After TBIJ published its original investigation, several UK supermarkets stopped stocking Del Monte’s canned pineapple products, including Tesco, Asda and Waitrose. Sainsbury’s and Morrisons told TBIJ they were no longer stocking Del Monte pineapples in June 2024. However, tinned Del Monte pineapple from Kenya is currently available on on both supermarkets’ websites. Sainsbury’s told TBIJ: “We are deeply concerned by these reports and are urgently investigating.” Morrisons referred TBIJ to a statement from the British Retail Consortium that read: “Retailers take these allegations very seriously. The welfare of people and communities in supply chains is fundamental to our members' sourcing practices, and any practices that fall short of our high standards will not be tolerated.” Two NGOs, the Kenyan Human Rights Commission and the Ndula Resource Center, conducted fact-finding missions to the farm on Sunday. Ernest Cornel Oduor from the KHRC told TBIJ: “Del Monte should stop putting profits over people. They value their pineapples over the lives of the communities living around their plantation.” Swaleh Githinji, from the Ndula Resource Center said: “Since G4S was brought on board things have not become better.” He added: “The bottom line is that Del Monte must re-evaluate its security strategies. They are not working. Rather, they are promoting egregious abuses of human rights.”