Senators call for deputy IG Lagat's arrest over Albert Ojwang's death

The discussions ensued after Migori Senator Eddy Oketch sought a statement from the Standing Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations regarding Ojwang's death. 

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale demanded that the matter be escalated to the highest level and that those culpable be arrested.  

"I am asking that this matter be escalated to the highest level, whereby we must instil fear in the government for the State to respect human life. It is not enough to ask the Deputy IG to resign," Khalwale noted. 

"We want the same speed that we saw when our colleague (was killed) last month... We want Eliud Lagat to be arrested so that he can write a statement from the police station, for it to be clearer to him that he has a responsibility."

"Those officers who transferred him from Homa Bay to Nairobi should equally be arrested, why are they walking scott free? We must protect our children and it is this Parliament that will bring this to an end."

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei echoed Khalwale's remarks and reiterated the calls for Parliament to form a Judicial inquiry into allegations of extrajudicial killings. 

"It can't be that, as a Senate, we allow insecurity to happen in this country. I want to appeal to the president, heads must roll, including the Interior Cabinet Secretary, Police Inspector General and his subordinates, OCS Homa Bay and Safaricom, who gave out the location of this suspect," the senator pointed out. 

Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang also joined the fray and demanded that Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen tender his resignation over the rise of insecurity.

The Senator, however, pointed out that the legislators were partly to blame as they had approved the same officers during the vetting process before they took office.

"The problem I have with Parliament is that we talk as if we have no hope. Parliament is the one that vetted the Police IG and as a result, he is answerable to this House. Tomorrow, the Police IG must be here. This gentleman did not die, he was killed by the police," he highlighted. 

"This is a shameful act. The Minister of Interior, under these circumstances, should have resigned."

Majority leader Aaron Cheruiyot also pointed an accusing finger at their colleagues for their 'hypocrisy' in lamenting about such cases, only to get viral clips online and not for action to be taken. 

"I've sat here wondering beyond the things we say, what's next. The unfortunate thing is that we've abetted these kinds of crimes for too long. We want to get clips on TikTok, look at the House, it's virtually empty, people have said what they wanted to say without recourse," Cheruiyot stated. 

"The motion that we passed after the June 25th protests, if we had adhered to it and our committees. There were specific things we asked each committee. Up to when do we want to be a House of Lamentations?"

"They did not vote for us to come and lament because we have the power. If you whine, what do you expect the young people to do? Let us stop this hypocrisy of just speaking and then going home."

On his part, Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka urged the lawmakers to shift their focus towards the posts by Ojwang' on X, which claimed graft activities within the police service. 

"What was Ojwang discussing that made this man kill him? It's corruption. The reason he was killed, he said, the Police Service receives close to Ksh.56 billion every year. This is the story. This country has to be fixed and we're the people to fix it because we're part and parcel of the mess," he remarked. 

"The police officers are a consequence of our failure. We refuse to accept that we can act together but we behave like children when everyone asks where are the adults? What happened to Ojwang is a consequence of a failed state."

Ojwang was arrested at his home in Homa Bay County on Saturday afternoon and transferred to Nairobi, where he met his death on Sunday.

The incident sparked nationwide outrage with Kenyans calling for the police officers responsible to be held accountable. 

This was also exacerbated when Police IG Douglas Kanja alleged that Ojwang' died by suicide after hitting his head on the wall at the police precincts.

The allegations were disproven by Government pathologist Bernard Midia, who in an autopsy, revealed that Ojwang was assaulted and suffered multiple body injuries. 

“When we examined … the pattern of the injury, especially on the trauma, I found on the head. Hitting against a blunt substance like a wall would have a pattern,” he stated.