NAIROBI, Kenya — A social media post that accused senior police officers of misconduct triggered the arrest of activist Albert Ojwang, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja revealed on Tuesday, as questions deepen over Ojwang’s controversial death in police custody.
Appearing before the Senate Kanja said the post, made on platform X (formerly Twitter), alleged that Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Eliud Lagat had strategically deployed trusted officers to key units within the National Police Service.
“The post specifically claimed that Mr. Eliud Lagat had planted loyalists at critical points such as DCI desks, Occurrence Books, and traffic shifts,” Kanja told lawmakers.
He added that another post referenced Lagat and Nairobi Area Commander Joseph Chirchir in connection with an alleged property investigation.
The Inspector General said the content, which was shared with the officer’s photograph and captions he described as “offensive,” raised concerns within the police hierarchy and was flagged for possible violation of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act of 2018.
Following the post, DIG Lagat reportedly lodged a formal complaint.
The matter was assigned to a cybercrime investigator at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Kanja said.
The X account behind the post had a following of over 13,000 users at the time.
Ojwang was arrested days later and died while in custody at the Central Police Station in Nairobi on June 8, a case that has sparked public outrage and demands for justice.
A postmortem conducted on Tuesday painted a grim picture, revealing that Ojwang died from head injuries, neck compression, and multiple soft tissue trauma — injuries consistent with assault, not self-harm.
“He had head and neck injuries. There were other multiple injuries consistent with assault,” said Government Pathologist Dr. Bernard Midia after leading the autopsy.
Dr. Midia ruled out claims in an earlier police report that Ojwang may have fatally injured himself by hitting his head on a wall.
“If someone hits themselves on a wall, we expect a specific injury pattern, including frontal bleeding. That pattern was not present,” he said.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), which is independently investigating the death, has also rejected the suicide theory, saying the Central Police Station’s CCTV system had been “interfered with.”
IPOA says it only learned of Ojwang’s death through media reports and a police signal.
The agency has since collected forensic evidence, seized the station’s DVR system for analysis, and interviewed multiple officers and witnesses.
Senators are now demanding accountability and swift action from investigators.
