Senators angered as Murkomen directs IG Kanja to answer questions over Omondi’s death

The Senate session dedicated to hearing the circumstances surrounding the killing by assault of teacher and blogger Albert Omondi Ojwang while at the Central Police Station cells on Sunday was shortly disrupted after the legislators ‘refused’ to hear Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja’s opening statement.

The senators broke into “loud” consultations in the House after Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said he only deals with policy issues and it is Kanja who has independent command of the police and is constitutionally shielded from any external interference.

The Senate Speaker had a hard time calling for the calmness of the house to allow the session to proceed.

During the ‘noisy’ consultations, Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua pleaded with his colleagues to allow the session to proceed for the family of the deceased to get justice.

“I plead with my colleagues that let us do this for Albert and Kenyans,” Senator Wambua pleaded.

The session proceeded after almost 20 minutes of disruption, with the IG taking over to explain the accounts of the arrest and the death of Omondi.

The disruption came after CS Murkomen stated that it was not his duty to explain the circumstances surrounding Ojwang’s death and directed the matter to the Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja.

“The Constitution does not give me the power to decide who is culpable. However, I am confident that we will do everything possible to ensure there is no cover-up or shielding of anyone,” Murkomen said.

This is even as the former Elgeyo Marakwet Senator had shared his sympathy with the family of Ojwang.

He shared that police brutality has been there since he was a legislator, as he added that the officers involved in the death should be punished heavily

“The officers involved should be punished heavily to ensure that such an act does not happen to anyone in police custody,” Murkomen stated.

Murkomen, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, the Deputy Chairperson of the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), Anne Wanjiku, the Acting Chairperson for the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) Eliud Chelugut, Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Mohamed Amin are at 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  Senate has suspended its normal business for two hours and 45 minutes to efficiently interrogate them concerning the matter, which is of national concern.

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.