Didacus Malowa, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings over three years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.

- Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and Director of Criminal Investigations Amin Mohamed have once again failed to appear in court to address the disappearance of three individuals abducted in Mlolongo.

Justice Chacha Mwita directed Kanja and Amin to personally appear in court and produce the three missing men, Justus Mutumwa, Martin Mwau, and Karani Muema, alive or dead.

The two top police bosses cited late summons as the reason for their absence, prompting legal arguments over the mode and timing of service.

Representing Kanja, lawyer Paul Nyamondi told the court that the summons were served via email at 1.30pm on Thursday and only seen on Friday morning.

Apart from being unable to comply because of receiving the summon late, the lawyer contended that email is not a recognised legal notification channel.

"We were served with the summons via email yesterday afternoon, and it wasn’t until today that my clients saw it," Nyamondi told the court.

The lawyer further argued that the National Police Service (NPS) is not a party to the case and that the summons was issued without adequate time to respond, thus violating his client’s constitutional right to a fair hearing.

The petitioners, represented by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), insisted the IG and DCI were properly served.

Kanja and Mohamed have since filed an urgent application to set aside the court orders requiring their appearance.

They lamented that the orders were issued unfairly without giving them an opportunity to respond.

"Unless this application is certified urgent and heard promptly, there is a grave danger of not getting justice following the orders issued on January 13, 2025. It is extremely prejudicial for such orders to be issued without affording them an opportunity to be heard," he said.

Earlier, Kanja, Amin and Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen failed to appear in court to answer questions about the recent spate of forcible disappearances.

The trio failed to show up during the first mention on December 31, 2024. The hearing was pushed to January 8, when Kanja and the two respondents were expected to appear again to explain why the previous orders were not complied with.

Murkomen sent his lawyer, Danstan Omari, with Kanja and Amin being a total no-show. The police IG cited his preoccupation with other security-related duties.

In the early Wednesday session, Justice Bahati Mwamuye adjourned the proceedings to the afternoon to allow Kanja to show up.

The judge threatened to sentence Kanja over contempt of court; this was after he failed to appear yet again after the adjournment.

Source: TUKO.co.ke