Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Faith Odhiambo has called for the prosecution and court arraignment of police officers implicated in the death of blogger Albert Ojwang.
Speaking during an interview on a local radio station on Monday, June 16, 2025, Odhiambo emphasised that legal action, not prolonged discussions, is now necessary to curb such actions and to ease tensions among Kenyan citizens who have been upfront since his demise.
“We want to see officers presented before the court, as the Law Society. It’s time for action. We’ve been talking too much, and the action is prosecution,” she said.
She also pointed out the responsibility of senior government officials to provide accurate public information and face consequences for misinformation and further condemned the initial false narrative issued by police, noting that it took widespread public pressure for the truth to emerge.
“The spokesperson owes the people of Kenya because you’re holding an Oval Office that should be accountable. When you make false statements, the question is what happens to you as a state officer? Because it took the noise that several people made for that apology to happen,” she said.
She called on state officers involved in misleading the public to issue formal apologies. “Come out and give apology to the people of Kenya for lying,” Odhiambo demanded.
The LSK president rejected the idea of inquests and internal reviews, insisting that only direct court prosecutions would deliver justice.
“We are not going to agree to any story of inquests,” she added.
Accountability
In another address, while launching the Taskforce on Efficiency and Ethics in the Judiciary and Various Registries on Monday, June 16, 2025, in Nairobi, Odhiambo declared the moment a clarion call to accountability, introspection, and collective reform, urging all arms of the legal and judicial community to confront systemic failures and rampant ethical lapses.
“This is not merely the unveiling of another committee—it is a clarion call to accountability,” she said. “We gather here today not to state the obvious, but to act on it,” she posed.
Citing widespread frustrations within the legal fraternity and among the public, Odhiambo lamented how inefficiencies and ethical shortcomings have deeply eroded trust in judicial processes.
Albert Ojwang, a 31-year-old Kenyan teacher and blogger, was arrested on June 6, 2025, in Homa Bay following a defamation complaint by Deputy Inspector General of Police Eliud Lagat.
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He was transferred approximately 350 kilometres to Nairobi’s Central Police Station, where he died hours after being booked on June 7, 2025, under suspicious circumstances. An autopsy, which is contrary to the police statement, revealed that he died from blunt force trauma and neck compression, contradicting initial police claims that he had committed suicide.
His death has since then sparked widespread public outrage and protests, with growing calls for DIG Lagat’s resignation. The outcry intensified amid allegations of a cover-up, including reports of tampered CCTV footage at the police station.
Her remarks come at a time when public confidence in the police is under pressure, and demand for action over Ojwang’s death is part of a broader national outcry for police reform and accountability.
Odhiambo’s strong stance places her and the LSK at the forefront of a growing movement demanding justice, transparency, and an end to impunity.
