Amin denies holding the missing blogger, labels him 'wanted'

The Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Mohammed Amin has said the National Police Service (NPS) is not holding activist Ndiangui Kinyagia, who has been missing for 11 days now, noting that they are also looking for him.

Amin said Ndiangui is a person of interest to the DCI in an active investigation, after publishing what he described as ‘very inflammatory’ material on social media.

“I’m sure you all saw the timetable and so on and so forth, which was trending on social media. Our preliminary investigations established that, that social media account belong to the so called Ndiang’ui,” he said at a press conference held at the DCI headquarters on Monday.

He said his officers had profiled and located Ndiangui’s residence, and conducted a search at his apartment in Kinoo, but he was not present.

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Although the activist was not at home,  Amin said his officers recovered several electronic devices which they believe are relevant to their ongoing investigation.

“We were able to draw an inventory, which was counter-signed by the caretaker of those apartments. So, mine is to confirm to Kenyans that Ndiang’ui is not under the custody of NPS. He is a person of interest to us and wherever he is, I would urge him that he submits himself and that he surrenders to the nearest police station,” he said.

His remarks came just hours after the High Court ordered Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and Amin to produce the missing lawyer and blogger in court or provide a valid explanation for his disappearance.

As the court awaits compliance today,  Amin chose to address the issue at a press conference claiming that Ndiangui is not in NPS custody and that is what he would tell the judge today.

“We do not have him and wherever he is, he should just come and surrender to the police so as to assist in our investigations,” he insisted.

Despite denying involvement in Ndiangui’s disappearance, the DCI has once again come under scrutiny over conflicting public statements, particularly in cases involving alleged abductions.

The most recent example involves the death of teacher and blogger Albert Ojwang’, where Amin was accused of giving misleading testimony under oath before the Senate and the National Assembly.

“... It is good that I have an opportunity to explain that. When I appeared before the Senate, I swore by holding the Holy Quran and said that whatever I would say before the Senate shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” he said yesterday.

Amin emphasised that he was quoting from official records in the digital occurrence book , not offering personal opinion.

“Some people thought it was the DCI who was saying that, No. I was explaining to Kenyans what I was reading from the digital OB, explaining verbatim,” he said.

Amin said the OB showed Ojwang’ was taken to Mbagathi Hospital where he was received at around 2am and later pronounced dead.

However, MPs questioned why police records stated Ojwang’ was found unconscious just four minutes later, at 01:39, and also noted inconsistencies with earlier reports that he had sustained head injuries “by hitting his head repeatedly against the wall”.

Another major concern was the timeline of events, as the police report indicated that Ojwang’ was declared dead on arrival at 1:39am — the same time he was reportedly found unresponsive in the cell.

At the same time, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) informed Parliament that CCTV footage from the Officer Commanding Station’s (OCS) office at Central Police Station had been tampered with.

In yet another incident, the DCI was again under fire last year over the case of the “Kitengela Three”, who were allegedly abducted in September. Amin had claimed that the NPS was not holding the trio, insisting that abduction is a serious offence under the penal code.

“We have received a couple of complaints that certain people have been abducted, including the so-called Kitengela three. We have taken it upon ourselves to ensure that the matter is investigated… So mine is to reiterate that as officers of NPS, we are not holding the so-called Kitengela three,” he said. 

But the three were freed on one Friday morning in September, a month after they were separately picked in Kitengela, by persons they described as policemen.