Ojwang’s father recounts last moments before arrest

Albert Ojwang’s father Meshack Ojwang has narrated the last moments he had with his son before his arrest and later death.

Albert, a Voi-based teacher, died in police custody after he was allegedly arrested on Saturday in Homa Bay town over what authorities described as a "derogatory" post on X (formerly Twitter).

He had travelled to Homa Bay to visit family when he was picked up by police officers.

Meshack said his son was picked up by police who alleged he had offended someone on social media.

His father said it was about 1 pm when the family had just returned from the farm where he was tending to vegetables.

“Later, when we came back home, he told me that he wanted to go for trees in Ringa to plant them, and I gave him a motorcycle. When he was back from Ringa, his mother welcomed us with food. I was eating in the house while he was outside eating with his family,” he said.

Meshack said he suddenly heard a motorcycle coming to the house and went out to welcome them, thinking they were guests.

“They came with three motorcycles, one came through the back and another one through the front entrance. Each motorcycle carried two people. They approached me and introduced themselves as police officers,” he said.

Meshack narrated that the police officers introduced themselves as per the different stations where they were based.

The officer informed him that they had come to arrest his son due to a piece of information he had posted on social media.

“My son and other family members were eating, he had to stop. He did not eat to his full. He did not eat,” he said.

Meshack said that his son was arrested and was taken to the police station. The officers asked him to follow them to the station.

When he arrived there, he found the officers interrogating him; little did he know that these would be the last moments he was seeing his son.

Police said he died by suicide after allegedly injuring himself while alone in a cell.

He was found with serious head injuries believed to be self-inflicted and was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“He was rushed to the hospital after what we think was an attempted suicide. He had injured himself in the head and was rushed to the hospital, where he died. He did not die here in custody,” said Nairobi Central Police boss Stephen Okal.

The body was moved to the mortuary pending an autopsy. Ojwang’s family has been informed and was expected in Nairobi to witness the post-mortem.

A team from the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) is expected to join the probe into the incident.