Kanja: This is why Albert Omondi was arrested
Kanja said the posts by Omondi alleged that Lagat had placed trusted officers at critical points, including DCI desks, Occurrence Books, and traffic shifts
The Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja has shared the details of the events that led to the tracking and arrest of Albert Omondi Ojwang.
In his statement to the Senate, Kanja said that the deceased was traced to his home in Homa Bay following a post he shared on his X account claiming that there were ongoing investigations by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) on Deputy Inspector General of police, Eliud Lagat.
According to Kanja, the investigations began after the DIG launched an official complaint, which led to the National Police Service (NPS) writing to the Anti-Corruption Commission to confirm whether there were ongoing investigations.
He stated that EACC responded, saying there were no investigations over the same.
It was then that the NPS wrote to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) wanting to get information about the owner of the X account that had posted the graft allegations against the DIG.
The IG revealed that the CA shared the same, which led to the five officers drawn from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) traveling to Homa Bay, where he was arrested before being taken to a local police station, then later to Nairobi Central police station.
In his narration, Kanja said the posts by Omondi alleged that Lagat had placed trusted officers at critical points, including DCI desks, Occurrence Books, and traffic shifts.
He also cited another post that referenced both Lagat and Nairobi Area Commander Joseph Chirchir, linking them to an investigation involving high-value property.
“Specifically, the post claimed that Eliud Lagat had positioned trusted officers at critical points such as DCI desks, Occurrence Books (OBs), and traffic shifts,” Kanja said.
He added that the post included a photograph of Lagat along with language he described as offensive. According to Kanja, the content raised public concern and prompted an investigation under the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act of 2018.
The account that Kanja shared was posted the shared through an X account with 13,400 followers.
In his account, the IG said the deceased was booked into Central Police Station in good condition.
Others who are facing the Senate are Interior Cabinet Secretary, Kipchumba Murkomen, 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.
They were summoned to explain 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 Senate suspended normal business for two and 45 hours in the morning to interrogate them concerning the matter, which is of national concern.
The grilling is expected to resume at 2.30 pm after Kingi allowed Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot’s request as they had not responded to questions raised by senators while others were yet to be given opportunity to ask theirs.
The appearance of the Security team comes after a postmortem on Omondi’s remains established that the teacher died after an assault and not by banging his head on the cell wall of the Central Police Station as alleged by the police earlier on.
