President William Ruto on Wednesday called the death of blogger Albert Omondi Ojwang “heart-breaking and unacceptable,” saying it occurred “at the hands of the police,” even as he urged Kenyans to await the outcome of an official probe.
Ojwang, 31, was arrested last Friday in Homa Bay County over online posts that allegedly defamed Deputy Inspector-General of Police Eliud Lagat. Two days later he was taken, unconscious, from Nairobi’s central police station to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Officers initially claimed he had “hit his head against a cell wall.”
An autopsy conducted by pathologist Bernard Midia found head trauma, neck compression and other soft-tissue injuries consistent with assault, not self-inflicted harm. Human-rights activists rallied outside the Nairobi mortuary where the examination was carried out, demanding justice and an end to what they say is a longstanding pattern of extrajudicial killings.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority has opened an investigation, naming five officers who transported Ojwang from western Kenya to the capital. Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen told a Senate hearing that anyone involved would be brought to court “without interference from any quarter.”
Ruto, who came to power in 2022 pledging security-sector reforms, urged the public to follow the inquiry “patiently but vigilantly.” His government has faced growing anger over police brutality despite repeated promises to curb the force’s use of lethal violence.