Prominent city lawyer Danstan Omari has urged the Milimani Law Courts to grant bail to Police Constable James Mukhwana, the prime suspect in the murder of blogger and teacher Albert Omondi Ojwang, who died in custody at Nairobi’s Central Police Station on June 8, 2025.
Mukhwana, arrested on June 12 by the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), faces murder charges under Section 203 as read with Section 204 of the Penal Code.
Omari argued that Mukhwana’s voluntary cooperation with authorities and his status as a serving police officer justify his release on bail with stringent conditions.
Appearing before Principal Magistrate Robinson Ondieki on June 13, Omari emphasised that Mukhwana willingly presented himself to IPOA to record a statement, demonstrating his commitment to cooperate with investigators.
“My client has shown good faith by voluntarily submitting to the authorities. He is a serving officer and poses no flight risk,” Omari told the court, requesting that Mukhwana be barred from Central Police Station to avoid interference.
He also conveyed Mukhwana’s condolences to Ojwang’s family, describing the officer as a humane professional devastated by the incident.
However, IPOA, through Senior Assistant Director of Investigations Abdirahman Jibril, opposed the bail request, citing a high likelihood of Mukhwana tampering with evidence.
Jibril revealed that preliminary investigations suggest Mukhwana, the cell sentry on the night of June 7-8, was involved in a brutal assault on Ojwang, alongside others still at large.
IPOA further alleged a cover-up, noting that CCTV systems at Central Police Station were tampered with, with the DVR power cable disconnected and operating discs formatted on June 8 at 07:28:43 and 07:32:29. “There is a high likelihood that Mukhwana and others organised to conceal what transpired,” Jibril stated.
The court ordered Mukhwana detained at Capitol Hill Police Station until June 20, when a ruling on the bail application and IPOA’s request to hold him for 21 days will be delivered.
The case has sparked public outrage, with protests erupting in Nairobi and demands for accountability, including calls for Deputy Inspector General Eliud Lagat—who lodged the complaint leading to Ojwang’s arrest—to resign.
Similarities with Kware Dam Case
Critics have drawn parallels between Mukhwana’s arrest and that of Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, the prime suspect in the 2024 Kware dam murders, where 42 bodies were discovered in a Nairobi dumpsite.
Social media posts and public commentary suggest both cases involve junior officers being positioned as scapegoats to shield senior officials.
In the Kware case, Jumaisi, a suspected serial killer, was arrested with fanfare, and police paraded items like oversized clothing as evidence, only for doubts to emerge about the investigation’s transparency. Some X users claim Jumaisi was quietly released or protected, a narrative echoed in Mukhwana’s case.
Posts on X, including one by @JeliahKwamboka, label Mukhwana “the new Jumaisi”, suggesting he may “carry the cross” temporarily to calm public outrage while senior officers evade scrutiny.
Another user, @TKA_Dr, compared Mukhwana’s arrest to Jumaisi’s, questioning why a low-ranking officer would single-handedly orchestrate a murder and cover-up, including tampering with CCTV, without orders from above.
Critics point to the rapid arrests of junior officers in both cases, contrasted with the lack of action against senior figures like Lagat, who initiated Ojwang’s arrest over alleged defamatory X posts.
In both cases, allegations of evidence tampering have fuelled cover-up claims. The Kware investigation faced scrutiny over questionable exhibits and Jumaisi’s sudden prominence as a suspect, while IPOA’s findings of manipulated CCTV footage in Ojwang’s case have intensified suspicions of an orchestrated effort to obscure the truth.
Mumias East MP Peter Salasya, while vouching for Mukhwana’s character based on past interactions, urged the officer to “speak the truth” and not be a “sacrificial lamb”, reflecting widespread doubt about the investigations’ integrity.
The public and opposition leaders, including Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma, have demanded the prosecution of all involved, particularly those who authorised Ojwang’s transfer from Homa Bay to Nairobi, where he was found unresponsive in a cell hours after being booked.
A postmortem revealed Ojwang died from blunt force trauma, neck compression, and multiple bruises, contradicting initial police claims of self-inflicted injuries.
