Kanja fails to appear before Senate for third time over Kiprotich's abduction

Standard Group Associate Editor Alex Kiprotich. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

The Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja is on the spot for failing to appear before the Senate thrice over an inquiry into the abduction of Standard Group Associate Editor Alex Kiprotich.

The failure by Kanja to appear before Senate National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations Committee raises serious questions as to whether there might be some cover-up, since the Police have been accused of being behind the abduction.

The Senate Committee chaired by Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo had invited the Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, Director of Criminal Investigations Mohammed Amin and Kiprotich for deliberation over the inquiry into the abduction of the Senior Editor.

“The meetings have failed to take off thrice after the Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja requested for rescheduling since he had other pressing security matters that required his presence, the meeting will be held on a later date,” said a Senior Parliamentary official.

Kiprotich’s abduction was a carefully executed operation that began with a trail from Nairobi on the evening of September 1st this year, which escalated into an armed ambush at Gilgil and ended with him being abandoned near Masinga Dam almost nine hours later.

The Senior Editor left the Standard Group offices along Mombasa Road that evening shortly after 7pm, unaware of the danger ahead of him, with some individuals tracking every move he made before his abduction at around 9pm near the Gilgil Weighbridge.

The Armed men trailed Kiprotich all the way from Nairobi and made multiple failed attempts to overtake and intercept his vehicle along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway before finally executing their ambush at the weighbridge in the presence of other road users.

The armed men in the Subaru Forester, bearing registration number KDG 125E, intercepted his vehicle smashed Kiprotich’s car windows with the butts of their guns, threatening to shoot both him and his driver if he failed to obey their order to alight from the vehicle.

“The four men who abducted me acted with the precision of tactical police officers in plain clothes, raising serious questions over whether the team was acting under instructions from a senior government official to target me,” said Kiprotich.

The entire highway ordeal lasted approximately five minutes before Kiprotich was taken hostage and the gunmen sped off into the night towards an unknown destination and at around 2:30am, he was driven into a thicket near Masinga Dam while blindfolded.

The National Police Service (NPS) denied being behind the abduction of Kiprotich, saying it had launched investigations to establish the identity of the armed men who seized him along the Gilgil–Nakuru Road promising to take action with very little done so far.

In a statement issued on September 2, NPS spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga said Inspector General of Police had directed the Anti-Abduction Unit to immediately investigate the incident, including the identity of the heavily armed individuals seen ordering occupants out of Kiprotich’s vehicle.

“The National Police Service unequivocally condemns kidnapping, abduction and intimidation intended to interfere with press freedom or any other constitutional right, those responsible in the abduction of Alex Kiprotich would be brought to justice, said Nyaga.