LSK wants police chief Kanja jailed for defying court orders on protests

The Law Society of Kenya wants Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja jailed for six months for defying court orders on police identification and stopping peaceful protests.

The LSK, in its application filed before the High Court, also targets former Nairobi Regional Commander Adamson Bungei, Mombasa County Commander Peter Kimani, and the Mombasa sub-County Commander Maxwell Agoro, claiming that police officers in civilian clothes who have masked their faces are still arresting persons.

“There lies a common denominator in the abductions. In all the documented scenarios in which these abductions have happened, the use of civilian clothes by police officers who use unmarked vehicles and fail to identify themselves has featured prominently. Such action in effect adjourn the Bill of Rights, the National Police Service Standing Orders and all the orders granted by the High Court in the three various Petitions,” argued LSK lawyer, Marc Chirchir.

Last year, Justice Bahati Mwamuye ordered that security officers should not use vehicles without number plates and should not hide their faces.

He directed that officers who are not in uniform wear name tags or service number badges for easy identification while quelling or protecting protesters.

The LSK, in its fresh application, said that the orders have remained just on paper as the police boss and the regional commanders have not complied with the orders.

LSK chief executive Florence Muturi, in her court papers, said the example of police defiance was during the protests in Mombasa on January 6, 2025.

She said that those who were in the streets had peacefully expressed their demands against abductions of persons who were demanding good governance until police in plainclothes came in.

She further said that there were also uniformed police officers but with vehicles that had concealed number plates.

Muturi alleged that the police bosses had been notified beforehand about the protests. Nevertheless, the regional commander declared them illegal.

“The non-uniformed police officers engaged the activists presenting their petitions were masked, essentially hiding their identity and failed to identify themselves as police officers. Deployment of uniformed police officers with concealed service numbers and masked non-uniformed police officers is in complete defiance of the orders dated August 14, 2024, given under the hand of the honourable Justice Bahati Mwamuye,” argued Muturi.

She also argued that Kenyans have no issues with uniform and identifiable police officers.

Last year, LSK sued Attorney General, the then Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei, Central Police Station Officer Commanding Station Moses Shikuku and a police officer, Martin Mbae Kithinji

According to the lawyers’ lobby, police officers were identified in multiple videos by peaceful protesters as among the officers who took advantage of their civilian attire to cause a disturbance.

“As a result, many of the demonstrators do not know who unlawfully took them into police custody as they cannot identify the police officers who unlawfully abducted them. The failure of the police to identify themselves and the particular use of plain clothes worked to the deliberate frustration of the peaceful protesters and caused panic. This subsequently turned the peaceful protest violent,” she said.

LSK then filed a contempt application against the Inspector General of Police, claiming that on September 24, 2024, the police bosses again deployed officers who were not in uniform while others concealed their vehicle number plates and faces.

This comes as lawyers and the court grappled yesterday with the question of who Kelvin Muthoni, one of the persons alleged to have been abducted last year in December is, where he comes from, his relatives and if anyone had information on him.

Muthoni and Steve Kavingo are the only missing persons in the list of seven persons said to have been abducted last year.

Muthoni is a petitioner alongside Kavingo alias Mbisi and five others who had been abducted but freed in December 2024.

The other five are Billy Mwangi, Peter Muteti, Bernard Kavuli, Ronny Kiplangat and his brother Gideon Kibet alias Kibet Bull.

Senior lawyer Paul Nyamodi rose to ask the court to adjourn since his clients and the police had not been supplied with an Occurrence Book number showing that Muthoni had been reported missing.

He said that the police could therefore not carry an investigation.

“My clients have yet to get the report of Kelvin Muthoni or his particulars,” he said.

Nyamodi represents the National Police Service, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, in his personal capacity, and the director of criminal investigations, Mohamed Amin.

Other lawyers led by Thande Kuria for the Attorney General and Danstun Omari for Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen wanted the court to hear their side of story but Kavingo and Muthoni’s issue be revisited later.

Nyamodi had asked for more time to enable the police to confirm and probe Muthoni’s identity, saying that they had probed the issues of other reported missing persons.

Muthoni was added to the list of abductees after an oral application by LSK vice president Mwaura Kabata to have his name added after Mwangi, Muteti, Kavuli, Kiplang’at and Kibet had been freed by their captors.

Muthoni was in a petition filed before Justice Diana Mochache at the Kibera High Court.

The judge gave the orders that the police should produce the seven men in court and the file was then transferred to Justice Alexander Muteti for hearing.

A similar case had been filed before Justice Muteti on behalf of Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah regarding the disappearances of the seven men.

He too had issued orders to the police to produce them.

On the other hand, LSK had filed a similar case before Justice Mwamuye and orders had again been issued to Kanja and Amin. Justice Muteti directed that the file of the case before him be transferred to Justice Mwamuye.

The Saturday Standard reached out to Omtatah for information on who Muthoni is with the senator saying that he would ask in his circles and provide us with information.

“Send me a message on WhatsApp with your number making the request and I will facilitate it,” said the senator.

On the other hand, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) cannot conduct its probe since neither Muthoni’s true identity nor the station where his disappearance was reported are known.

The LSK, through Collins Mango, told Justice Mwamuye that it would provide the respondents with information about Muthoni before the hearing resumes.

Lawyer Ndegwa Njiru wanted the judge to issue orders guaranteeing the safety of Muthoni and Kavingo.

He said that it was curious that on Thursday when Kanja and Amin appeared in court, the bodies of Justus Mutumwa and Martin Mwau were positively identified at the Nairobi Funeral Home.

The two were abducted on December 17, 2024, alongside Kalani Muema, a day before Kavingo was kidnapped.

The lawyer also sought to have Judge Mwamuye lift his stay on summoning Kanja and Amin to court and explain Kavingo and Muthoni’s whereabouts.

“Interventions to secure the lives of the petitioners so that justice will not only be seen to be done but will be done,” added Njiru.

According to Justice Mwamuye, even if it were possible to continue with the matter legally in part, it would send a wrong message to Muthoni’s family.

The case will be heard on February 14, while the judge will rule on the issues raised seven days later.