DCI denies holding missing blogger Ndiang’ui Kinyagia, urge him to surrender amid directive to police to produce him

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has denied holding missing 31-years-old IT expert and blogger Ndiang’ui Kinyagia, even as public concern mounts over his disappearance for the tenth day in a row.

While addressing a media briefing earlier today, DCI Director Mohamed Amin clarified that while Kinyagia is a person of interest in an ongoing investigation, he is not being held by the National Police Service.

Amin, who together with the Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja were directed by a Milimani court to produce the missing IT enthusiast in court tomorrow affirmed that he will share the same with the court when he appears.

“Ndiagui Kinyagia was a person of interest to us after publishing inflammatory content on social media…Our investigations confirmed that the social media account used to share the posts belonged to him. We profiled him, identified his residence, and conducted a lawful search at his apartment in Kinoo.” Amin noted.

He added that officers recovered several electronic gadgets believed to be useful to the investigation, but Kinyagia was not found during the search.

“We did an inventory of the recovered items, which was countersigned by the caretaker of the apartment,” he noted.

Kinyagia was last seen 10 days ago, shortly after sharing a controversial programme for the June 25 anti-government protests.

“Ndiangui is not in the custody of officers from the National Police Service (NPS), and that is what I am going to say rightly before the court tomorrow,” he said.

Amin claimed that the blogger has been a person of interest to the DCI and that he should surrender wherever he is to help in the ongoing investigations.

“He was a person of interest to us for publishing inflammatory material on his social media. Wherever he is, he should surrender to assist in our investigations,” Amin stated.

Amin confirmed that indeed Ndiang’ui was arrested for publishing a protest timetable on his social media.

He added that the DCI officers ransacked his house before picking several of his electronics, which they recorded in an inventory with the caretaker of the apartments where he lived in Kinoo.

“I am sure you all saw the timetable and so on. Our investigations revealed that he was the owner of the account that posted the information, and we profiled him and identified his residence. Officers searched his residence in Kinoo, and he was not in his apartment,” he explained.

“We searched and picked a few of his gadgets that we believe would be important in our investigations. We did an inventory countersigned by the caretaker of the apartment,” he added.

Earlier today, the IG Douglas Kanja and Amin were asked to produce Ndiang’ui in court tomorrow.

In his order today, High Court Judge Chacha Mwita told the IG to produce Kinyagia in court tomorrow morning without fail or explain why he has been missing.

“I have taken into account the fact that the second applicant has not been found for 10 days and that the life of a citizen is in danger,” Mwita stated.

Further, Mwita also directed that the application be served on the respondents by close of business on Monday and responses to be filed within seven days.

Kinyagia went missing on June 21 after allegedly being abducted at his home in Kinoo.

His whereabouts remain unknown, and his disappearance has drawn national attention, with rights groups and civil society organizations demanding his release.

“Free Ndiangui Kinyagia. He was last seen on June 21 after a reported raid by DCI officers at his home in Kinoo. We call for his immediate release. If he is accused of any crime, let him be presented before a court of law, not held incommunicado,” human rights group Amnesty International Kenya said in a statement.

Before he was reported missing, Kinyagia had shared a timetable for the protests to mark the first anniversary of the Gen Z killings on his X account.

The timetable outlined a nationwide plan for demonstrations, including a march to the State House in Nairobi.

His disappearance was reported by his family at Kinoo Police Station before they went to LSK, who filed an urgent application last week seeking to compel the police to produce Kinyagia and explain the circumstances of his disappearance and the raid on his home.