Reprieve for Kanja, Amin as court suspends order over court summons

From left Director of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Ibrahim Amin, Inspector-General of the National Police Service Douglas Kanja and Deputy Inspector General of Police Gilbert Masengeli (Administration Police Service) when they issued a joint press statement on December 5, 2024, Nairobi. [File, Standard]

The High Court has temporarily stayed its earlier order requiring the Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja, and Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Mohamed Amin to personally appear in court on Monday, January 27, 2025.

The two were ordered to explain their involvement in the controversial abduction cases of several young men or face imprisonment.

The court had previously ordered Kanja and Amin, along with George Njao, the Director-General of the National Youth Service (NYS), to attend court proceedings over the disappearances of Billy Munyiri Mwangi, a college student, Ronny Kiplangat (the brother of cartoonist Kibet Bull), content creator Bernard Kavuli, and Peter Muteti, as well as the still-missing Bernard Kavingo.

These cases have sparked widespread outrage and calls for accountability.

However, in a ruling on January 22, 2025, Justice Bahati Mwamuye issued a temporary suspension of the court orders made on December 31, 2024, and January 8, 2025, which had compelled the three senior government officials to personally explain the circumstances surrounding the disappearances.

The police chiefs were granted a brief reprieve, with the judge ordering that they serve their application to quash the court orders on Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) by the close of business on Wednesday, January 22, 2025.

Additionally, they must file their affidavits challenging the court orders by Thursday, January 23, 2025.

The matter will be revisited on January 27, 2025, when the court will review further directions regarding the application.

The police chiefs now face an intense final opportunity to appear in court on that date, or they risk being held in contempt of court and potentially jailed.

The temporary suspension of the appearance orders comes as the country continues to await answers to the troubling abductions that have rattled public confidence in security agencies.

LSK has filed a lawsuit seeking answers from from the police chiefs over the spate of abductions of the young men that happened in December last year.