IG Kanja, DCI boss summoned again over three missing men

Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Mohamed Amin were yesterday for the second time ordered to appear  before the High Court on Monday next week without fail to explain the whereabouts of three men who allegedly disappeared after being abducted by suspected security officers.

Justice Alexander Muteti directed the country's two top security chiefs to personally attend court on July 20 at 1 p.m., saying they must respond to the habeas corpus applications filed by the families of Macmillan Kiarie Mugo, Evans Otieno Omondi and Michael Oloo Osoro, who have been missing for weeks.

The judge also granted the IG  and the DCI until Friday to file replying affidavits to the applications before Monday's hearing.

The fresh orders came after the two police chiefs failed to appear in court despite earlier directions requiring them to personally produce the three missing men alive or dead, or explain their whereabouts.

Appearing for the state, lawyer Paul Nyamodi told the court that Kanja and Amin were unable to attend because they were involved in an urgent security planning meeting.

"The Inspector General and the DCI Director are not present in person because they are involved in planning an upcoming security meeting. Due to the short notice of the summons, they could not attend. If the court still requires their attendance, we request that another date and time be assigned," Nyamodi submitted.

He informed the court that senior police officers, including the OCSs of Buruburu and Ruai police stations, the Buruburu Sub-County Criminal Investigations Officer and the Nairobi Regional Police Commander, were present in court on behalf of the respondents.

Further, Nyamodi maintained that the three missing men were not being held by either the National Police Service or the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.

"It is my clients' position that the three missing persons are not in police custody," he said, while seeking more time to respond to the habeas corpus applications.

He further argued that the applications before the court did not meet the legal threshold for the orders sought.

Lawyers representing the families, led by Advocate Abner Mango, strongly opposed the request, arguing that court orders must be obeyed and that the Inspector General and the DCI Director could not delegate responsibility in a matter involving alleged enforced disappearances.

Mango told the court that the two security chiefs head agencies with the capacity to account for the whereabouts of every Kenyan and should explain what happened to the three missing men.

"The Inspector General and the DCI Director have the apparatus to know where every Kenyan is. If they say these three men are not in police custody, then they should tell this court who has them. Cases of enforced disappearances have become too many, and this is an opportunity for the security chiefs to shed light on the fate of the victims," Lawyer Mango told the Judge Muteti.

The proceedings later descended into emotional scenes as families of the missing men and activists interrupted the court moments before Justice Muteti delivered his ruling.

A woman believed to be the wife of one of the missing men suddenly stood up and screamed, demanding answers about her husband's disappearance.

"Where is my husband? It is now 25 days down the line since he went missing in June and I have no answers. I have been to every police station in this city and he is nowhere," she cried, triggering emotional reactions from relatives and activists packed inside the courtroom.

Other family members joined in chanting for justice and demanding that the State reveal the whereabouts of their loved ones.

Court proceedings were briefly disrupted as activists waved flags and chanted slogans, while activist Julius Kamau stripped naked inside the courtroom in protest.

Court orderlies intervened to restore order after repeated pleas by court officials and lawyers failed to calm the crowd.

Once calm had been restored, Justice Muteti appealed to the families to allow the judicial process to take its course.

"In fairness, when you come to court, have some faith that we are undertaking a process recognized by the law... Let us maintain a sense of decorum so that everybody who walks out here will walk out confident that they have been heard," the judge said.

He added: "When the matter comes up for hearing, we shall hear the applicants, you present your story and tell us what you know about this matter. Let the State also make their response, and then we will give you a decision. But have faith, and we shall do our duty."

The applications were filed separately by the families of the three men together with Siasa Place, seeking writs of habeas corpus compelling the State to produce them in court alive or dead after they allegedly disappeared in separate incidents in Nairobi last month.

The families, led by Rose Sopi, the wife of Michael Oloo Osoro; Pamela Aloo, the wife of Evans Otieno Omondi; and Beatrice Wanjira, the mother of Macmillan Kiarie Mugo, claim the three were seized by armed men believed to be security officers before vanishing without trace.

According to the court papers, Oloo was allegedly abducted from a barbershop in Buruburu on June 19, Otieno was reportedly picked up from a shop in Ruai on June 26 after leaving his motorcycle behind, while Kiarie was allegedly bundled into a vehicle shortly after leaving his home in the Kizito area of Githurai on June 20.

Justice Muteti will hear the matter on Monday when Inspector General Kanja and DCI Director Amin are expected to appear in person and explain the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the three men.