IG Kanja, DCI Amin risk jail if they fail to attend court for third time
Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and the Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin will be charged with contempt of court and sentenced and convicted respectively immediately if they miss the next hearing.
This was revealed by High Court Judge Bahati Mwamunye after the IG missed attending the court session for the second time in a case involving the abduction of seven people that was filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) among others.
“If Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja misses the next hearing, I will have no choice but to charge him with contempt of court and sentence him on the spot. As for the DCI, I will proceed with a conviction and invite him for mitigation,” Mwamunye stated.
While delivering his ruling before adjourning, Mwamunye summoned Amin and Kanja for the next hearing warning them that they would be sent to jail if they missed.
“If the Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja, misses the third hearing, I will have no option but to cite, convict, and sentence him on the spot,” he said.
The judge stated that if the DCI boss misses to attend the next hearing, he will be summoned for mitigation and sentence hearing.
The judge extended the grace period to the two security bosses for them to locate one Steve Kavingo Mbisi who is yet to be released by his abductors.
The security bosses were instructed last month by Justice Diana Kavedza to produce seven abductees and were today required to attend the court in person to show why they should not be cited for contempt for failing to comply with the orders.
During today’s hearing. Paul Nyamondi, the counsel representing the IG, told the court that his client could not appear before the court since he had attended an emergency regarding security issues.
Nyamondi told Justice Mwamuye that the IG could not appear in court citing that he got information that he left in the morning to attend an emergency security meeting,
“Your honour I would like to inform this court that the IG is not present in court as ordered reason being he attended an emergency security meeting,” Nyamondi told the court.
He also stated that the purpose for the IG to appear before the court was to produce the six abductees before the court pursuant to the orders of habeous corpus granted by the same court on December 30, 2024.
Nyamondi told the court that it is in public domain that the applicants have been released and are with their families a fact which was disputed by the counsel for Mbisi, Makueni Senator Dan Maanzo who told the court that his client’s whereabouts is still unknown.
Nyamondi had prayed to the court to excuse the attendance of the IG, saying he respects the law and takes the court orders seriously.
He insisted that the purpose of the IG to appear was to produce the applicants pursuant to orders granted by the court.
Nyamodi suggested to the court that those who have been freed by abductors to be at liberty to record their statements for the purpose of Investigations.
Further, he told the court that police could not produce the applicants who are now free stating that it might look like arresting them,
“Police cannot produce people in court without arresting them and there was no need to arrest the applicants,” he submitted.
The assertion by Nyamondi was confirmed by the sister to Steve Kavingo, Stacie Mutua, who was present in court to confirm that they have not found their loved one.
On the other hand Billy Mwangi’s father, Gerald Karicha Mwangi, confirmed before the court that his son is free from abductors and is at home.,
According to Victor Kamau, the deputy director of legal services in Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHC), there is no official information made that the abductees were released,
“Your honour there is no official report made by police where the reported matters of missing persons were made despite information being in the public domain that the abductees have been freed,” Kamau submitted.
He told the court that they have contacted the families of the abductees and confirmed their loved ones has been released by the abductors except the seventh applicant, Steve Kavingo who his whereabouts is still a misery.
Kamau stood firm on the fact that the IG and the DCI should have appeared before the court as ordered by the court to explain the circumstances under which the unknown abductors had been abducting citizens without police being aware.
On his part, Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah submitted before the court that police normally produce people in court without arresting them and they could have done the same to the abductees.
Danstan Omari, who is representing the Cabinet Secretary for Interior Kipchumba Murkomen, was first kicked out for the contempt of court but later admitted. He urged the court to narrow the scope of the proceedings and be concerned with the missing person,
“Your honour I pray this court to narrow the application and focus on the missing person since five have been found,” he prayed.
Together with Sam Nyaberi, they defended Murkomen claiming that he has nothing to do with abductions since his mandate does not directly fall on giving instructions to police.
The respondents team led by Nyamondi prayed the court to mention the matter within two weeks for the respondents to do thorough Investigations before the hearing on the applications..
While giving directions Justice Mwamuye scheduled the hearing of the application on January 27, 2025 where he ordered Inspector General of police to appear before the court in person failure to which will attract conviction for contempt of court.
He further directed the applicants and all parties in support to file supplementary affidavits and serve the respondents by January 15, 2025 and the respondents to file responses by January 22, 2025.
