PREVIEW
Police moves to arrest an officer for human rights abuses shows government nervousness in face of popular anger
The murder of Albert Ojwang, a teacher and blogger, and attempts by the police to cover it up, have brought Kenyans back to the streets. On 12 June, police in Nairobi used tear gas to disperse crowds gathered close to the National Assembly and several buildings were set alight.
Protests intensified after the police claimed that Ojwang died from ‘hitting his head against a cell wall’, implying that he had died by suicide. On 11 June, President William Ruto confirmed that the 31-year-old had been killed ‘at the hands of the police’, describing the killing as ‘heartbreaking and unacceptable’.
Also that day, Inspector General Douglas Kanja apologised to the National Assembly for saying that Ojwang’s injuries were self-inflicted (Dispatches, 31/12/24, State House under fire over kidnappings).
Ojwang was arrested on 6 June in Homa Bay, western Kenya, for supposedly defaming the country's deputy police chief Eliud Lagat. Ojwang posted online about Lagat’s alleged role in a ‘bribery scandal’ on which The Standard newspaper had already published an investigation. A police officer is now in custody in relation to Ojwang’s murder.
Ruto’s decision to not shield the police shows his anxiety about more protests. It cuts across the impunity his government has allowed Kenya’s law enforcement apparatus. On 12 June, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority chairman Ahmed Issack Hassan told a National Assembly committee that there had been ‘20 deaths in police custody in the last four months’.
The past twelve months have seen a wave of abductions and deaths of dozens of activists involved in last year’s Generation Z protests against the 2024 Finance Bill and political corruption (AC Vol 65 No 23, Facing calls for reform, the state hits back). Finance Minister John Mbadi’s budget for 2025/26 is days from being finalised and is expected to focus on increasing tax revenue via higher compliance rather than imposing new taxes.
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