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Former Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) commissioner John Waiganjo has explained some of the procedural flaws that were witnessed in the arrest of Albert Ojwang, the youthful teacher who died while in police custody at Central Police Station, Nairobi.
Speaking on the night of Saturday, June 14, 2025, during an interview with one of the local TV stations, Waiganjo faulted the police for mishandling Ojwang.
He says that according to the arresting procedures, the touch and the handling matter a lot.
Suspect’s rights
According to Waiganjo, a suspect does not need to be mishandled during an arrest. In cases where a suspect submits by act and word that they are not resisting arrest, the police are not supposed to even touch them.
“You do not need to be mishandled, and you do not even need to be touched where you submit by act and word that you are not resisting arrest. In most instances, you will find that the police overdo the arrest,” he said.
He further talked about arrests that happen outside the police jurisdiction while referencing Ojwang’s case.
Waiganjo says the operational law was breached when Ojwang was arrested in Homa Bay and ferried to Nairobi.
Operational law breach
In that case, Waiganjo says Mawego Police Station OCS should have received a police signal from Nairobi requesting the arrest of Ojwang, and that he should have given his officers a written order describing the suspect and stating his offence.
Upon his arrest, Waiganjo says the OCS needed to do an apprehension report and file it at the Resident Magistrate’s Court in Homa Bay. Ojwang would have then been booked and given instructions to appear in court.
“More important are arrests outside the police jurisdictions. For instance, now talking about Albert’s case, he was arrested in Homa Bay and brought to Nairobi. So the operational law there, I would say, was breached, because what should have happened is that when officers from Mawego Police Station went to his homestead, the OCS must have received an electronic signal from Nairobi that there was this particular suspect that needed to be arrested.
“What needed to happen was that if the OCS himself was not to proceed to Albert’s homestead and delegated the responsibilities to other officers, those officers needed to have a written order from him describing Albert, stating what offence he had committed, and then move to arrest Albert and take him to Mawego Police Station,” Waiganjo explained.
While in court in Homa Bay, the OCS needed to file an application seeking to move Albert from Mawego to a different police station. In this case, the magistrate would have enquired with the Central Police Station and requested them to provide officers who would have escorted Ojwang to Nairobi.
“Then at that police station, the OCS was required to do an apprehension report and file it at the resident magistrate’s court in Homa Bay on Monday. Basically, the OCS should have given Albert a police book that would require him to appear in court, and then an application that would have been made to move Albert to a different police station in Nairobi, and an order that would have been granted by the magistrate. The magistrate would have enquired with Central Police Station in Nairobi and asked them to provide officers who would have escorted him to Nairobi,” Waiganjo said.
