Bonnie Mwangi's probe centred on DCI theory bows can shoot bullets

Activist Boniface Mwangi narrates his harrowing experience in the hands of Tanzanian Authorities, on June 3, 2025. [Benard Orwongo, Standard] 

Even by its world-renown for inventiveness, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) hit a new threshold last weekend with the arrest and arraignment of my friend, Bonnie Mwangi, on arson and terror charges.

Not only were the officers able to “recover” teargas canisters and a round of ammunition at breakneck speed, they also secured a court permit to search premises, which prompted the arrest of Bonnie. His lawyers, present during the search, said DCI presented to court an inventory that differed from theirs.

I wouldn’t sweat it too much; it’s in our culture to swap things, as I understand happens all too often in political contests. All that’s needed is a momentary blackout and lists are swapped in the rabsha—because pliant courts will never allow a vote recount, and if they do — it’s always too late to recompense the rightful victor.

But since this was not a political contest, and DCI is apolitical, I will not sweat it out that the Interior Ministry devoted so much resources looking for teargas canisters in private premises, instead of manning our borders where proper militants are planting unexploded ordinance and munition, so that our soldiers are routinely blown up. They must have had credible evidence that Bonnie posed a bigger threat. 

My only irritation is that such acts assault our intelligence because: a) if Bonnie had a bullet in his possession, b) no gun in hand, c) why were DCI in a hurry to charge him d) without interviewing blacksmiths in Lukenya to confirm e) if they could make a home-made gun? 

Quite honestly, I have no doubt that such inventions are possible in our land, and I don’t think the police could have wasted their precious time and energies in their Lukenya search if they didn’t have a good reason to initiate the case. 

After all, it’s quite frightening that activists like Mwangi could learn handling teargas canisters so fast, a technical task that regular officers take nine months to master in Kiganjo. I’m not saying our cops are slow learners, it’s just the way things are. 

Which is why those suggesting that Bonnie’s arrest was a test of sorts to check public response to future arrests, are totally misguided. I don’t think DCI are that sophisticated, which is why cases in which they make dramatic arrests ebb out in quiet humiliations in the courtroom. 

I’m not saying Bonnie is a big deal, in the same league as, say, former DP Rigathi Gachagua aka Riggy G, who dared police to arrest him. Why, Bonnie’s multitude of followers are online, and possibly domiciled elsewhere, while Riggy G makes us believe his base is on the ground, in a locale he calls “Murima.” 

I am persuaded that the singular reason police rushed Bonnie to court was because they were persuaded that a teargas canister in the wrong hands can have grave and grievous consequences. You just needed to look at the face of Interior Cabinet Minister Kipchumba Murkomen. He seemed to be in genuine state of terror when he spoke of the security threats posed by activists. 

He could be right, for if someone as modest and ordinary as Bonnie Mwangi can mobilise thousands of protesters to the streets with a single tweet—while politicians have to bribe to pull a paltry crowd of several dozen—it is possible that in Lukenya, Bonnie has found blacksmiths who make bows that shoot using bullets, in place of arrows, hence the singular round that he wanted to test his shooting skills. 

It doesn’t help that Bonnie is a sharp-shooter, having used a camera to shoot images for many years, a skill that would come in handy hunting using bows and bullets in the plains of Lukenya.