NAIROBI Central police station OCS Samson Talam was arrested in Eldoret on Friday in what police believe was part of an attempt to escape.
He had apparently switched off his mobile phones since Thursday. Talam was handed over to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority for processing.
His arrest brought to three the number of those in custody over the murder of teacher and blogger Albert Ojwang'. A female police officer targeted in the case was found and questioned for the better part of Friday.
Talam is regarded as a prime suspect in the murder. A number of suspects and witnesses have adversely mentioned him.
Ipoa has put senior officers from Nairobi Central police station at the centre of the brutal murder of Ojwang’.
Also said to be key in the murder is a young CCTV technician, who not only installed the surveillance cameras but also deleted content at the instruction of senior officers at the station.
The details emerged during a closed-door meeting between Ipoa chairman Issack Hassan and members of the National Security Committee on Thursday.
Journalists were kicked out of the sensitive session.
An MP who was part of the closely guarded afternoon meeting told the Star in confidence that Hassan's team is confident that the murder was executed by officers at Central, but the motive is not yet clear.
According to the lawmaker, Hassan told them how senior cops manning the station tried to do away with the incriminating evidence.
“The Ipoa chairman was categorical that the senior guys at the station were deeply in the mix and did everything to defeat justice,” the MP said.
From Hassan’s submission to the MPs, a decision was made to call the CCTV technician to erase critical evidence from the station's surveillance system.
The Ipoa boss reportedly pleaded with the committee chaired by Narok West MP Gabriel Tongoyo to urge Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja to effect the immediate arrest of three police officers and the technician, whom the authority believes bear the greatest responsibility.
According to our source, the committee called Kanja on phone and put him on loudspeaker with members demanding that he affects the arrests immediately.
“You know, Kanja had just left the committee a few minutes before and some members wanted him to be summoned back to make the commitment, but he assured members on loudspeaker that he would make the arrests,” the MP said.
Ipoa believes the three are crucial in unlocking the murder.
Hours after the session, police announced they had arrested constable James Mukhwana of Central police station, who was detained at Capitol Hill police station.
On Friday, detectives picked up a CCTV technician who confessed to being paid Sh3,000 to dismount and delete contents of the surveillance cameras.
Police said the technician, identified as Kelvin Matava, was flushed out of his Saika home on Friday morning in an operation.
The technician told police a female officer contacted him in 2024 to install the CCTV cameras at Central, where he supplied all the materials with a total of 25 CCTV cameras and server/digital video recorder (DVR) with a storage capacity for 30 days as per the instructions of then OCS.
He installed the cameras at the report office, corridor leading to the cells, all corridors in the two floors and on the parking yard from the entrance.
Since then, he had been called to Central several times by police for maintenance of the CCTV system.
“On June 8, 2025, at 6:22am I received a phone call from XXX who requested me to proceed to Central police station immediately. Upon arrival she took me to the office of the OCS where the server/digital video recorder for the surveillance cameras is located.
“The OCS was present and they requested me to delete the video footage for 6th and 7th June, 2025. I informed them that deleting footage for specific days was not possible and the only option was to format the storage/ hard drive, which would delete everything stored and restore it to factory settings,” he said.
Matava added that he did not remove anything from the DVR system and upon completion of the assignment, the OCS gave him Sh3,000 for the work.
On the same day, the female officer called him again twice at 7:55pm and 7:56pm but he did not answer her calls.
On June 9, 2025, at 6:28am, he said he received a phone call from the same female officer who requested him to once again proceed to Central police station with a new hard drive so that he could replace the old one at the CCTV system.
“She further insisted that I should not wear a reflector or any clothing that would indicate I am a technician. Since at that time the shops where I could source the hard drive were yet to open, I first proceeded there without a hard drive but only to find that somebody had already opened the DVR machine and the hard drive was interfered with, since it was not the way I had left it the previous day.”
The female officer told him to come back later in the evening.
At around 12:07pm she called him and asked if he was available but at that time he was working in Westlands.
She further informed him she had given his mobile phone number to an Ipoa officer, who wanted assistance to retrieve CCTV footage.
The Ipoa official called and requested him to proceed there to assist them. Instead , the technician sent a colleague because he was busy at work.
“I was also worried since I had seen on social media that a person had died while at Central police station under mysterious circumstances, and taking into consideration the instructions I had been given by the OCS and the female officer to format and delete everything from the CCTV hard drive/storage.”
Matava was the second person to be arrested over the murder as police hunted for at least four more.
By Friday, detectives backed by Ipoa officers were in hot pursuit of three more police officers stationed at Central who have been evading the police dragnet.
Among the three is the senior officer who paid the CCTV technician Sh3,000.
The detectives who had been asked by to arrest at least three police officers and two civilians said they were unable to find their colleagues.
“They have switched off their mobile phones and we can't find them for now. We are, however, optimistic to find them for justice,” said one official aware of an operation that had gone on since Thursday.The wanted officers had recorded their statements with Ipoa.
Several officers, including those who were on night duty during the incident and a senior officer believed to have given instructions regarding the handling of the deceased, have been interrogated.
At least 23 people, including 17 police officers, have been questioned.
Some of the police however went back to Ipoa and changed their story.
The cops, according to insiders, said the murder happened at the Central police cells.
Ojwang’s case is the latest in a string of alleged extrajudicial killings that have drawn widespread condemnation and intensified calls for deep reforms within the National Police Service.
INSTANT ANALYSIS
Ipoa is mandated to conduct inspections of police premises, including detention facilities. In this role, Ipoa seeks to ensure that police premises meet basic predefined standards and that the treatment of suspects and detainees is in accordance with the constitution.
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