Petition filed before High Court seeking to bar DIG Lagat from resuming duties as Ojwang’s murder probe continues

The morbid massacre of Homa Bay teacher Albert Ojwang will continue to haunt Deputy Inspector General of the Kenya Police Service (DIG-KPS) Eliud Langat after a section of human rights activists petitioned the High Court to halt prosecution of six suspects charged over the murder until Lagat is included as the prime suspect.

The activists including lawyer Lempaa Suyinka and Prof. Fredrick Ongola among others, have invited the High Court to intervene and aid in dismantling an alleged syndicate involved in shielding Lagat from criminal responsibility and ensure he is charged alongside other suspects charged on Tuesday June 24, 2025.

The activists are pointing fingers at the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) who they say made decisions aimed at achieving a miscarriage of justice by excluding Langat from the list of suspects charged with the murder of Ojwang.

Lagat has since stepped aside to pave way for independent investigations.

“The petitioners believe as detailed in the petition that the prosecution that has been commenced by DPP and IPOA is part of a grand scheme to cover up the murder of Albert Ojwang in order to ensure the prime suspect DIG Eliud Lagat gets away with the said foul murder,” states activists through their lawyer Kibe Mungai.

The activists sued IPOA, DPP, National Police Service (NPS), Langat and President William Ruto as respondents who they are accusing of being in a scheme shielding Langat from criminal responsibility in the murder of Ojwang.

They say the inconsistent and contradictory decisions made by the DPP and IPOA not to include Langat in the list of murder suspects have transgressed Kenyans’ legitimate expectations that at the minimum, justice for Ojwang will include prosecution of Langat as the prime suspect.

The deceased was murdered inside the Central Police station in Nairobi where he had been booked by Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers who had arrested him following a complaint by Langat.

The station’s commander (OCS) Chief Inspector Samson Talaam has been charged with the murder alongside his juniors – Constables James Mukhwana and Peter Kimani who were on duty during the night Ojwang was beaten to death by cellmates John Gitau, Gin Ammitou Abwao and Brian Njue.

“Notwithstanding the obvious malice, ill-will and the ulterior motive of the complaint (by Langat), the DPP and IPOA have disregarded the same and chosen to institute frivolous and malicious murder charges against (Talaam, Mukhwana, Kimani, Gitau,Abwao and Njue),” the petitioners argue through seasoned lawyer Kibe Mungai.

“No criminal charges have been preferred against Langat despite credible evidence incriminating him for the murder of Albert Ojwang. The principles set out in Section 4 of the ODPP Act, have been ignored and or breached in the prosecution of the (six suspects) thereby setting the stage for a miscarriage of justice against Albert Ojwang.”

The activists begin their application by taking the high court through a series of events that took place before and after the teacher – cum blogger was killed, including a well-planned cover up scheme that later failed.

The chain of events that the activists want the high court to consider to establish the cover up is the narrative and cooked up lies shredded by the leadership of the National Police Service (NPS) in the aftermath of the murder.

The claimed lies listed by the activists include a press statement by the NPS spokesman Michael Muchiri that indicated Ojwang had died by suicide after knocking his head on the wall inside the cells.

They urge the high court to take cognizance that the suicide theory which was later on discredited by a postmortem report that clearly ruled out suicide as possible cause of death, was the beginning of a grant scheme to shield Langat from accountability and responsibility in the heinous murder.

The petitioners argue that the said suicide theory was invented and canvassed, in a cruel scheme by government the government of Kenya and senior security officials to shield Langat from facing accountability and responsibility for the death of Ojwang whose arrest, detention and beating he had apparently organized through Talaam.

The petitioners have also invited the high court to take notice that President William Ruto did not interdict Langat during investigations into Ojwang’s murder, contrary to regular practice and relevant legal provisions which they say is an indication of unwillingness to let Langat be held accountable.

They want the high court to issue a conservatory order suspending the trial of Talaam and accomplices until their petition which is meant to compel the DPP and IPOA to include Langat as the prime suspect is determined through canvassing.

“Pending hearing and determination of this application/petition, the court be pleased to issue an order of stay of the DPP and IPOA’s decision to institute criminal proceedings in Nairobi high court (Kibera) Criminal case no. E010 of 2025 – Republic versus Samson Talaam and five others,” the petitioners state in the prayers.

“Pending hearing and determination of this petition/application, the court be pleased to issue a conservatory order of injunction to restrain DIG Langat from resuming, continuing to act or performing the duties of DIG – KPS.”