Mwenda Mbijiwe disappearance: IG Kanja, DCI Amin fail to honour court summon

This is after Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Mohamed Amin failed to personally appear in court as ordered.

The two senior police officers had been summoned to explain Mbijiwe’s whereabouts, four years after he was allegedly abducted. Instead of attending in person, they were represented by lawyer Paul Nyamodi and an investigating officer.

Their absence prompted Mbijiwe’s mother, the applicant in the case, to urge the court to issue warrants of arrest against Kanja and Amin for defying court orders.

However, Nyamodi opposed the request, arguing that the summons had not been served on his clients. He further asked the court to allow the investigating officer to address the court, maintaining that the officer was best placed to explain the status of the investigations.

“I took time at the beginning to explain that the investigating officer is present and that the court made directions for the two senior officers without having had an opportunity to hear the status of the investigations,” Nyamodi told the court.

Nyamodi also claimed that, according to the investigating officer’s averments, Mbijiwe’s mother had not filed a missing persons report or recorded a statement with the police, choosing instead to move directly to court.

But under questioning by Justice Muya, the investigating officer clarified that Mbijiwe’s mother had not refused to record a statement. He told the court that two reports had been made: one by Mbijiwe’s wife at Lang’ata Police Station and another in 2021 by his stepmother, not his biological mother.

Lawyers for Mbijiwe’s family pushed back, insisting that the critical issue was not who made the report, but the fact that a missing persons report had indeed been lodged.

Visibly unimpressed by the back-and-forth, Justice Muya cautioned all parties against procedural gamesmanship.

“Let’s not play games,” the judge warned, stressing the seriousness of the matter and the need for candour and cooperation.

The court directed all parties to file and serve the relevant papers and ordered them to appear for further proceedings on January 23 next year as the court continues to seek answers over Mbijiwe’s disappearance.