Chaos in Kenya as Youths Carrying Blogger Albert Ojwang’s Body Set Police Station Ablaze Over Mysterious Death

Homa Bay descended into chaos as enraged youths set the Mawego Police Station ablaze while carrying the body of Albert Ojwang, a young man whose arrest and subsequent death in police custody has sparked national outrage. 

In a dramatic video seen by Kenyans.co.ke, a massive crowd, many of them young people, was captured running and chanting dirges. At the forefront, a few mourners were hoisting the coffin of Ojwang, which had just arrived from Nairobi. The procession, filled with emotion and chants of grief, made its way to Mawego Police Station, the site where Albert was initially held following his arrest on June 7. 

What began as a somber march quickly escalated. Witnesses reported that the mourners turned into protesters, torching parts of the police station in a show of anger and frustration.  

Sources say the procession was initially intended as a spiritual exercise, a traditional act to ward off evil spirits believed to disrupt the peace of the deceased. However, the mood shifted, and anger over Ojwang’s death boiled over into open revolt. 

This violent turn of events came just one day after a moving requiem service was held in his memory at Ridgeways Baptist Church in Nairobi. There, family, friends, and sympathizers eulogized Albert Ojwang as a peace-loving young man whose life was tragically cut short. 

His mother, Eucabeth Ojwang, gave a heart-wrenching testimony about the moment her son was taken: 

“They took my Albert just when I had prepared lunch for him. He had not even taken a bite of ugali before the police took him. When they came, Albert was trembling. I asked him what was wrong; he told me he had done nothing.” 

Ojwang’s arrest and his abrupt transfer from Homa Bay to Nairobi raised serious legal and human rights concerns. Several legal minds publicly questioned the legitimacy of the move. 

When Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss Mohammed Amin appeared before the Senate on June 11, he was pressed by Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale to provide a court order authorizing the inter-jurisdictional transfer. Amin defended the action, saying: 

“We do not require a court order to move a suspect from one police jurisdiction to another police jurisdiction.” 

He further clarified that Ojwang was booked out of Mawego Police Station at 1600 hours and later booked into Central Police Station in Nairobi at 2132 hours the same day. 

Despite this explanation, public anger did not subside. Pressure mounted from civil society, human rights activists, and the general public demanding accountability for Ojwang’s unexplained death in custody. 

The intensity of the public outcry eventually led to Deputy Inspector General of Police, Eliud Lagat, stepping aside, a rare gesture in response to growing calls for police accountability. 

As investigations continue, Ojwang’s tragic story has become a rallying cry for justice and a spotlight on alleged abuses within Kenya’s law enforcement. Meanwhile, the residents of Homa Bay remain shaken, their grief now fused with fury, demanding not only answers, but change.