Murkomen, Kanja and Amin appear before Senate over Omondi’s death

Those security chiefs led by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen are currently before the Senate to answer questions raised on the circumstances surrounding the killing by assault of teacher and blogger Albert Omondi Ojwang while at the Nairobi Central Police Station cells on Sunday.

The others are Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, Deputy Chairperson of the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) Anne Wanjiku,  Acting Chairperson for the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) Eliud Chelugut and the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Amin Mohamed.

The five are at the Senate after the Senate suspended its sitting for two hours to efficiently interrogate them concerning the matter, which is of national concern following a request for a statement by Migori Senator Eddy Oketch.

“The Senate will suspend its morning sitting for not more than two hours to efficiently interrogate the CS for Interior and National Administration, the IG, and the Chairperson of IPOA and that of the NPSC, regarding the safety and wellbeing of arrested person and in particular the circumstances surrounding the death of Albert Omondi Ojwang,” Senate Speaker Amason Kingi directed.

Kingi added that the Senators would not debate the matter as the matter has been submitted to the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence.

He clarified that the matter was allowed to be brought to the whole house because all senators had requested to interrogate the CS, IG, among others.

However, following a request for clarification by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang, they will respond to questions from senators under oath, which has legal implications even as Kingi said the matter will be substantivelly handled by the Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Foreign Relations.

The appearance of the security team comes after a postmortem on Omondi’s remains pointed out that the teacher died after an assault and not banging his head on the wall of the Nairobi Central Police Station Police Cell as alleged by the police earlier on.

While speaking to the Press after the process, the government pathologist, Bernard Midia, said the injuries on the deceased were not self-inflicted but from an assault.

“The pattern of injuries spread all over the body of Ojwang points towards assault,” Midia stated.

He explained that if he had done that, the pattern of the injuries on the head would be different.

“When I examined the injuries on Omondi’s head, he did not hit himself on the walls of the police cell. If he had, the patterns would have shown a frontal bleed, but the bleeds on the scalp were partially spread on the front of the head, the back, and the face. When we refer to the other injuries, then this is not self-inflicted injuries,” he explained.

The pathologist added that there were signs of struggle.

“We have found several injuries, and there were signs of struggle well described in the report for further investigations,” he stated.

The postmortem report contradicted the earlier report issued by the police, which alleged that the deceased was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital after he banged his head on the walls of a police Cell at the Nairobi Central Police Station.

In a report issued by the NPS Spokesperson, Muchiri Nyaga, he stated that the police took the deceased to the hospital after they found him unconscious, while reports at the occurrence book indicate that his death was recorded at the same station one hour after his booking in.

Ojwang was reported dead on Sunday morning to his family, who were following up after his arrest at their home in Homa Bay at around 3 pm on Saturday.