Why IG Kanja and DCI Amin Missed Court in Abduction Case
Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Director Amin Mohamed failed to attend a court hearing as required, claiming they were not properly served with court summons.
Justice Chacha Mwita had ordered both officials to appear in court on Friday, January 17, 2025, to address the disappearance of three men in Mlolongo, Machakos County, in December 2024. Despite the directive, neither appeared in court.
During the proceedings, their lawyer, Paul Nyamodi, informed Justice Mwita that the summons issued on January 8 had not been properly served.
Nyamodi argued that the petitioners sent the court orders to an incorrect email address, making it impossible for his clients to comply.
He requested the court to allow IG Kanja and DCI Amin to submit their responses and urged the judge to waive any penalties for their absence.
“The petitioners did not demonstrate that the email addresses used were authentic and belonged to my clients,” Nyamodi stated.
He emphasized that the police chiefs were unfairly denied a chance to respond to the court orders.
“Failure to address this matter urgently could lead to a serious miscarriage of justice,” Nyamodi added in his submission.
The lawyer for the petitioners, Noel Otieno, however, disagreed, maintaining that the summons had been properly served.
He highlighted that electronic communication is legally recognized under Kenyan law, and the respondents had no valid excuse for non-compliance.
IG Kanja and DCI Amin have since requested the court to overturn its earlier orders requiring them to produce the missing individuals, dead or alive.
This is not the first instance where the two senior police officers have been summoned to court. In fact, such summons are becoming increasingly common as cases of abductions continue to surface.
The police leadership is under scrutiny in multiple cases where victims have allegedly gone missing under unclear circumstances.
The trend of court summons targeting top police officials has sparked debate. Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen recently expressed concern in an opinion piece published by Nation Africa.
He questioned the growing frequency of legal actions against senior police officers, suggesting that these moves could hinder their ability to perform their primary duty of maintaining public safety.
“When we reflect on effective policing and its importance to our citizens, we must resist normalizing unwarranted attacks against our first line of defense.
These officers are tasked with protecting us, even from some among us who pose a danger to society,” Murkomen argued in the article.
The High Court is expected to rule next Thursday on whether to set aside the orders compelling IG Kanja and DCI Amin to attend court and explain the disappearance of the three Mlolongo men.
The decision could set a significant precedent for how such cases involving senior officials are handled in the future.
Join Kenyan Gen z and millennials official WhatsApp Channel To Stay Updated On time the ongoing situation https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaWT5gSGufImU8R0DO30
Tiktok – https://www.tiktok.com/@news.hub88?_t=ZM-8sz45qJid3V&_r=1
