Inspector-General of Police Service Douglas Kanja (left) and Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss Mohamed Ibrahim Amin before the National Assembly’s National Administration and Internal Security committee on June 12, 2025.
Authorities now say two civilians have been implicated in the murder of Albert Ojwang, even as MPs were told Deputy Inspector-General of Police Eliud Lagat would be questioned last.
A police constable attached to Central Police Station has also been arrested in connection with the killing. According to a police signal, Mr James Mukhwana faces a murder charge.
He is the first police officer to be arrested in connection with Ojwang’s killing. A total of 17 police officers involved in the operation that led to Ojwang’s arrest have been summoned by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa).
Ojwang died hours after being locked up last Saturday at the Central Police Station in Nairobi following a complaint Mr Lagat had lodged against him.
Ipoa brought up the two suspected civilians during the proceedings of a parliamentary committee investigating the killing.
The authority also said that it is ready to arrest three other individuals and it is waiting for the IG to provide officers to carry out the arrests.
However, the authority remained tight-lipped about the identities of the two individuals, requesting to only provide details to MPs in camera.
Appearing before the National Committee on Administration and National Security, Ipoa Chairperson Ahmed Issack Hassan said: “We are going to summon him (Mr Lagat), but our investigators say they want to take statements from all the police officers first before finally confronting him.”
The authority also revealed that a person was sent specifically to erase the CCTV footage that could have provided crucial information on what happened to Ojwang while in the cell.
“Actually somebody called, he came and deleted a specific section of the CCTV,” Mr Hassan said.
Mr Hassan termed the police narrative that Ojwang hit his head on the wall as a poor cover up, revealing that when he visited the cell, there was a lot of blood on the floor and the walls.
“Ipoa is not going to be used as a cover up ... The authority is not going to be used as a fire extinguisher to protect rogue police officers,” he said.
IG Douglas Kanja also told the committee that his deputy will not be treated with soft gloves.
“There is an ongoing investigations by Ipoa and every person who will have been mentioned to have participated in the death of Ojwang will have to record a statement and face the law. If the DIG is going to be mentioned and record a statement, he will have to step aside,” Mr Kanja said.
According to Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss Mohamed Amin, Ojwang died on June 8 in the police cells.
He said that at exactly 1.35am, Ojwang was heard crying loudly and kicking the walls of the cell during a routine check by duty officers. He then died at 2am, 25 minutes after the check.
Contrary to previous information that Ojwang died upon arrival at the hospital, Mr Amin told the committee that he arrived at the Mbagathi hospital already dead. This was confirmed through a letter signed by Dr Shah Mitari, a medical officer at the hospital.
According to information extracted from the digital Occurrence Book at the station, Ojwang was found making noise and kicking the cell walls during the routine check.
MPs pointed out inconsistencies in the police accounts, and that they need proper records on the sequence of events.
They noted that while Ojwang’s father says his son was arrested on Friday, police say he was arrested on Saturday.
Suna West MP Peter Masara said the police should provide timelines from the time Mr Lagat lodged the complaint to the time of dispatching a team to Homa Bay.
Additional reporting by Nyaboga Kiage.
