Detectives are currently hunting for at least two police officers in connection with the brutal murder of 31-year-old teacher Albert Ojwang, whose death while in custody has sent shockwaves across the country.
The officers, along with a few civilians, were earlier summoned by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) for questioning but have since gone into hiding.
“We haven’t been able to trace them. Their phones are switched off, and they seem to have vanished,” said one officer close to the ongoing investigations.
Despite this, authorities remain hopeful the suspects will be found and brought to justice.
Ojwang was arrested in Homa Bay by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) over a controversial social media post.
He was then transferred to Central Police Station in Nairobi. Not long after, he was rushed to Mbagathi Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.
Medical staff reported that Ojwang arrived at the hospital around 2.00 am on June 8th. His body was already cold, his face severely swollen, and his body covered in bruises.
Blood was reportedly seeping from his head, mouth, and eyes. An autopsy later confirmed he had been strangled and beaten.
Initially, officers questioned by IPOA gave varying accounts of the events. However, in a new twist, some have returned to IPOA to revise their statements, now admitting that Ojwang was assaulted inside the police cells.
A riot baton is suspected to have been the murder weapon, and investigators are actively trying to recover it.
In total, 23 individuals have been questioned in the case—17 of them police officers. Among those arrested is a police constable who initially claimed he was off duty at the time.
He was detained by the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU), which joined IPOA in the probe on Thursday. Senior officers from Central Police Station have also been summoned for questioning.
Investigators have also arrested a CCTV technician who was hired to delete surveillance footage from the station after Ojwang’s death.
The technician admitted that he was paid KSh 3,000 to wipe the system clean. IPOA chairperson Isaac Hassan later confirmed to Parliament that the station’s digital video recorder logs showed the hard disks were replaced and formatted on the morning of June 8—just hours after Ojwang died.
“These actions were deliberate and point to a cover-up,” Hassan told members of the National Assembly’s Security and Administration Committee. He also revealed that someone had requested the technician to disable a specific CCTV section, but the technician insisted the entire system had to be shut down.
The committee’s chair, Gabriel Tongoyo, confirmed that IPOA has identified at least three individuals believed to be directly involved in the killing.
He added that IPOA had requested the help of the Inspector General of Police to arrest them.
According to police records, Ojwang was booked at Central Police Station under Occurrence Book number 136/7/6/2025 at 9:35 pm on June 7.
Just hours later, he was dead. Investigations are ongoing, and the country awaits justice for the young teacher.
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