Former CS Interior Fred Matiang'i has called for reforms in the National Police Service. Photo: Fred Matiang'i X.
Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has called for immediate reforms in the National Police Service (NPS), following the death of Homabay X blogger the late Alber Omondi Ojwang’.
While mourning the 31-year-old teacher on Wednesday, Matiang’i termed the death as unfortunate, stating that the police violated the fundamental principle of life, as well as denied the deceased a just process of arrest.
“The cold-blood murder of Albert Ojwang’ is a heartbreaking reminder of the urgent need for reform in our criminal justice system. no one deserves to be denied due process. taking a citizen’s life law is not only unjust, it is a fundamental violation of human rights,” read the statement.
Matiang’i called on Kenyans to raise the voice to the government to account for the lives of Gen Zs lost in the recent days, in the hands of the police. Matiang’i further demanded that the perpetrators of the act must be held accountable, regardless of their position in government.
“His life was cut short in a manner that has shocked the conscience of the nation, and demands accountability. We must rise our voices not just for Albert, but for every young life especially among the Gen Zs that has been lost to extrajudicial killings in recent times. Enough is enough. Everyone involved ,at whichever level must beheld to account. Justice must be done and just must be seen to be done,” he demanded.
His message comes as President William Ruto has called on Kenyans to be calmness among Kenyans to be calm as investigations continue, and stop making uninformed judgement on the issue.
“As we mourn his passing, let us patiently but vigilantly follow the progress of of the investigations without making premature judgements or drawing conclusions that could compromise the process and its outcome. I fully expect that the ruth about what happened to Ojwang’ will be established in due course, and that justice will be served,” Ruto urged.
The reports earlier by NPS stated that Ojwang’ hit his head on the cell walls, and was rushed to Mbagathi Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. However, the autopsy result dismissed the reports by IG Douglas Kanja, as the deceased blogger died of multiple head injuries and neck strangulation.
