TUKO.co.ke journalist Harry Ivan Mboto has over three years of experience reporting on politics and current affairs in Kenya

Albert Ojwang died in police custody, but it’s now clear he wasn’t the only one to lose his life that way in recent months.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) raised alarm over the rising number of deaths in police custody, revealing that 20 people have died while in detention over the past four months.

IPOA Chairperson Issack Hassan made the revelation on Thursday, June 12, while appearing before the National Assembly’s Committee on Security.

He was addressing the controversial case of Ojwang, a teacher and blogger whose death last weekend while in custody sparked widespread outrage.

“We have had 20 deaths in police custody in the last four months,” Hassan told the lawmakers.

He called the situation a crisis of accountability within the police service.

Ojwang’ was arrested last Saturday in Homa Bay County, by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

The arrest was reportedly prompted by a complaint from Deputy Inspector-General Eliud Lagat over a post Ojwang made on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

The officers transported Ojwang to Nairobi and he was held at Central Police Station. But by Sunday, when his family arrived to check on him, they were told he had died and his body had already been taken to City Mortuary.

Preliminary investigations by IPOA now contradict police claims. The police had earlier said Ojwang died after hitting his head against a wall in his cell. But according to Hassan, the evidence suggests he was tortured and fatally assaulted.

“The signal by the police Inspector-General was incredible; it was a very poor cover-up attempt,” said Hassan. “The CCTV had been interfered with. The man was tortured and killed.”

Though IPOA does not have powers to prosecute, Hassan confirmed that all officers involved in Ojwang’s arrest, detention, and the handling of his body are being treated as suspects. So far, 17 officers and six witnesses have been questioned.

IPOA has also summoned Lagat to record a statement.

“We expect some kind of blue code where officers will choose to be silent,” Hassan said. “But we have other means. We are not going to be used as a fire extinguisher for police or enable this cover-up.”

In a related incident, a pregnant woman detained at Rwanyambo Police Station, Nyandarua, gave birth inside a police cell and lost her baby due to lack of medical attention.

The woman, believed to have been six to seven months pregnant, allegedly cried for help as she went into labour, but officers failed to respond.

The incident was brought to national attention when Nyandarua Senator John Methu raised it in the Senate. The senator described the situation as deeply troubling and called for an urgent investigation.

Source: TUKO.co.ke