20 people have died in police custody in just four months- IPOA

At least 20 people have died while in police custody in the past four months, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) has revealed.

IPOA Chairperson Issack Hassan said the deaths highlight a worrying trend of abuse and brutality within police cells, with the most recent case involving blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang, who died last weekend at Central Police Station in Nairobi under suspicious circumstances.

“We have had 20 deaths in police custody in the last four months,” he told Members of Parliament on Thursday when he appeared before the National Assembly Committee on Administration and Internal Security.

Ojwang was arrested on Saturday in Kakot, Homa Bay County, by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) over an alleged derogatory post on X. The complainant behind the arrest was Deputy Inspector-General of Police Eliud Lagat.

He was transported to Nairobi and detained at the Central Police Station. When his family visited the station on Sunday to check on him, police told them he had died and that his body had been moved to City Mortuary.

But IPOA’s preliminary investigations have pointed to torture and murder while in custody, contrary to the police version that he had fatally injured himself by hitting his head against a cell wall.

“The signal by the police Inspector-General was incredible; it was a very poor cover-up attempt to say that Ojwang had hit his head on the wall,” Hassan said.

“The CCTV had been interfered with. The man was tortured and killed.”

The IPOA boss added that although IPOA does not have the power to arrest or prosecute suspects, all officers linked to the case are now being treated as murder suspects.

This includes officers who arrested Ojwang in Homa Bay, those who detained him in Nairobi, and those who handled his body after his death.

“We are not going to be used as a fire extinguisher for police or enable this cover-up. We want the police to cooperate fully. Every officer involved in Ojwang’s arrest and detention is under investigation,” he said.

So far, IPOA has interrogated 17 police officers and six civilian witnesses. Issack further announced that Deputy Inspector-General Lagat will be summoned to record a statement as the probe nears completion.

“We have the capacity to investigate this issue. Of course, we expect some kind of blue code where officers will choose to be silent, but we have other means,” he said.

According to the National Assembly Committee on Administration and Internal Security, IPOA has confirmed that they were ready to arrest three individuals in connection with the murder of Ojwang.

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