Pressure mounts over Ojwang’s death as 49 killed by police in 2024
Forty-nine people have been killed by police since January in what civil society groups describe as a deepening crisis of violence and impunity within the security forces.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Police Reform Working Group, a network of 27 human rights organisations, said the killings are heavily concentrated in Nakuru and Nairobi, and reflect a sustained pattern of brutality by police officers against unarmed civilians.
According to the data shared by the group, Nakuru recorded 22 deaths, followed by Nairobi with 11. Other counties affected include Murang’a (3), Narok and Kakamega (2 each), and Meru, Kitui, Kajiado, Nandi, Siaya, Trans Nzoia, Baringo, Embu and Mombasa, which each had one case.
The groups said that these deaths are part of a broader trend, not isolated incidents.
“Albert’s death in the hands of police is not an isolated incident. As of this month, 49 police brutality cases have been documented across 13 counties,” they said.
The organisations also cited a separate report released last month by the Missing Voices coalition, which documented 104 cases of extrajudicial killings in 2024, down from 118 in 2023 — a 12 percent decrease.
Missing Voices is a coalition of human rights groups campaigning against extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.
Among the 49 deaths this year is the case of Albert Ojwang’, a teacher and social media user who died while in custody at Central Police Station in Nairobi.
Civil society leaders including Kenya Human Rights Commission director Davis Malombe, Independent Medico-Legal Unit executive director Grace Wangeci, Constitution and Reform Education Consortium’s Kawive Wambua and Transparency International’s Sheila Masinde have rejected official claims that Ojwang’ died of self-inflicted injuries.
They say the narrative is part of an attempted cover-up, and insist the Deputy Inspector General of Police Eliud Lagat — who is directly linked to Ojwang’s arrest — must step aside for credible investigations to take place.
“If the ministry was truly committed to non-interference, the first step would be to secure his stepping aside to pave the way for a credible and impartial investigations,” the lobbies said.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen had earlier told the Senate that “we will do everything within the ministry to ensure there is no interference, no shielding of any individual and no cover-up.”
But the groups responded, “We refute this assurance as disingenuous given that Deputy Inspector General of Police Eliud Lagat, who is directly linked to Albert Ojwang’s arrest, remain in office.”
They are calling on the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) to lead the investigations and ensure those found responsible face the law.
“We call upon IPOA and KNCHR to lead the investigations and ensure they extend beyond interdictions and suspensions, and that those found culpable are arrested and tried before a court of law. Without independent and external investigation, these practices continue to pose a threat to Kenyan lives, the rule of law, national security, and the public interest,” they said.
The organisations want IPOA to urgently summon and take statements from Lagat, the OCS Central and all officers involved in Ojwang’s arrest, booking and detention.
They also urged the National Police Service Commission to confront the ongoing crisis of arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and custodial deaths by police across the country.
