A closed-door meeting between the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) and the National Assembly committee on Security revealed chilling details of how Albert Omondi Ojwang was killed in a place that was meant to provide safe, lawful custody.
Reliable sources who attended the meeting, but who requested anonymity to avoid being sanctioned for breaching confidentiality rules, told the Nation that Ipoa has made crucial steps in narrowing down on the killers of Mr Ojwang.
The committee, chaired by Narok West MP Gabriel Tongoyo, was told that Ipoa investigators believe there was a plan to kill Ojwang immediately the journey of moving him from Homa Bay to Nairobi started.
Execution of this plot started with emptying of the Nairobi Central Police Station cell where Ojwang was to be detained.
Petty offenders were reportedly transferred to other stations to make room for Ojwang. His alleged murderers were allowed access shortly after his arrival.
Ipoa, according to our sources at the meeting held in camera, told MPs that they are investigating a senior police officer whose shift had come to an end at 8pm on the fateful night Ojwang was brought to the station, but who deliberately stayed on, extending his working hours up to about 3am.
The Issack Hassan-led civilian authority told the lawmakers the officer, who has already recorded a statement, is suspected to have deliberately refused to go home as he ‘had a job to do.’
Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) Chairperson Ahmed Issack Hassan speaks during the launch of the Missing Voices 2024 Report at the International Commission of Jurists offices in Nairobi on May 7, 2025. The report highlights cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Kenya.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation
When the mission was accomplished and it was time to hand over, the officer who was coming in to start his shift noticed Ojwang’s lifeless body in the cell.
“He (the officer who was starting his shift) went and touched Ojwang and found that he was already dead. He refused to take over with a body in the cells,” Ipoa reportedly told the committee on Thursday.
Ipoa on Friday asked a Nairobi magistrate’s court to authorise detention of police constable James Mukhwana for 21 days to allow for investigations into the killing.
The authority has also been investigating the Central Police Station OCS, Mr Samson Talaam, who was arrested on Friday, as well as a civilian technician who is said to have interfered with CCTV cameras in order to conceal the killing.
Ojwang’s arrest was occasioned by a complaint by Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) of the Kenya Police Service, Mr Eliud Lagat, who alleged that he suffered continuous false and malicious publications on an X account linked to the suspect.
The Deputy Inspector-General of the National Police Service Eliud Lagat at the Bunge Towers, Nairobi on November 7, 2024.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group
Ojwang, a trained teacher-cum-blogger, was tracked by police through his X account, @pixelpioneerai, after he made alleged defamatory posts about DIG Lagat.
Ojwang was arrested in an attempt to extract information about who was sponsoring the online campaign against Mr Lagat.
“The intention was to pressure him into revealing the source of the information he was sharing on X,” said another source familiar with the ongoing investigations.
When he got to the Central Police Station, Ojwang was allowed to call his wife to inform her that he had arrived safely in Nairobi.
At that point, according to the source, Ojwang was in good physical condition.
However, things took a dark turn just hours later, after he was locked in an isolated cell. He was then reportedly visited by another group of officers for interrogation.
The source said the interrogating team used brutal methods in an attempt to extract information from him, but he did not provide the names they were seeking. “They allegedly tortured him for hours before leaving him unconscious in the cell and then exited the station,” the source said.
Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) Chief Executive Officer Elema Halake briefing journalists at his offices in Nairobi on June 13, 2025, concerning their investigations into the death of a blogger and teacher, Albert Ojwang at Central Police Station.
Photo credit: Evans Habil| Nation Media Group
Questions have emerged as to why he was booked at Central Police Station, even though the investigating officer handling the case was based at the DCI headquarters along Kiambu Road.
“The nearest police station he should have been taken to is Muthaiga. It would have been easier for the investigating officer to visit him for interrogation.
"The service standing orders state that only suspects involved in serious crimes such as murder, terrorism, rape, or those with mental disorders should be isolated. He should not have been placed in a cell alone,” added the source.
At the closed-door meeting, Ipoa told the parliamentary committee their line of enquiry also involves finding out if the senior officer at the Central Police Station had received instructions from elsewhere to interfere with the cameras and other evidence.
Before the media was sent out for the closed session, Mr Hassan had told MPs that a technician was sent specifically to erase CCTV footage that could have given crucial leads on what happened to Ojwang while in the police cells.
“Actually somebody was called. He came and deleted a specific section of the CCTV footage,” Mr Hassan said.
The authority told the committee it would help to involve the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and Directorate of Criminal Investigations to compel the CCTV operators to hand over the disk that was removed as this would help to unmask the alleged killers.
Ipoa also reportedly told the lawmakers that investigators have already obtained a crucial lead from one of the suspects, who has recorded a statement claiming that four police officers held Ojwang upright when they removed him from the cell to make it appear as though he was still alive.
According to a letter from Mbagathi Hospital, police officers from Central took Ojwang to the hospital when he was already dead.
The letter signed by Dr Shah Mitari, a medical officer at the hospital, reads in part: “On examination he was unresponsive, the entire body was cold and had bruises on the limbs.”
Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss Mohamed Amin told the lawmakers that Constable Mukhwana, who was arrested on Thursday, was one of the officers who conducted routine cell visits on the night Ojwang was killed.
Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Director Mohamed Amin during a press briefing in Nairobi on October 30, 2024.
Photo credit: File | Nation
The Nation has learnt that before Mr Mukhwana was arrested, Ipoa reported to the committee that they had identified the prime suspect and communicated the information to the Inspector-General of Police.
The committee members then forced the chairman to call Mr Kanja and put him on the loudspeaker to effect the arrest immediately. “We wanted to summon the IG back after he had left, but he pleaded to be excused. We then told the chair (Mr Hassan) to put him on loudspeaker so that members could speak to him,” said the source.
IG Kanja says DIG Lagat does not need to step aside now
Ipoa also told MPs that they will only go for DIG Lagat if he is found culpable, after recording statements from as many junior police officers as possible.
Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula directed the committee to table its final report over Mr Ojwang’s murder on Tuesday next week.
