IPOA: Central Police CCTV Was Tampered With After Albert Ojwang’s Death

IPOA investigators have told the High Court in Kibera that CCTV records at Nairobi’s Central Police Station were tampered with after the death in custody of blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang. 

The authority said its review found that the station’s surveillance system had been interfered with, leading to the loss of recorded footage. Appearing before Justice Diana Kavedza, IPOA head of forensics and crime scene investigations Joshua Mutua said he led the inquiry after the authority was informed of Ojwang’s death. Mutua told the court that he and his team visited the station on 9 June 2025 to confirm the CCTV coverage and document the scene.

A virtual presentation shown in court outlined the station’s layout, including the holding bay, corridors leading to the cells and the staircase to the Officer Commanding Station’s (OCS) office. The areas were shown to have CCTV cameras installed.

Mutua said investigators were directed to a technician known as Dan, who was believed to have the password for the surveillance system and was responsible for maintenance work. When Dan was unavailable, he referred the team to another installer, Aloni Okwako, who helped them access the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) located in the OCS’s office.

The investigators found that the system was displaying a “Check signal cable” error. After inspection, they discovered that one of the DVR’s power cables had been disconnected. Once the cable was reconnected, the system resumed operation and allowed the team to review its records.

According to Mutua, the DVR logs showed that both hard drives had been formatted on the morning of 8 June 2025, which erased the stored footage. A review of the system showed that no recordings were available for the previous week, although the CCTV system was otherwise working. 

He told the court that only one of the station’s 24 cameras was faulty, indicating that the missing footage was not caused by a general system failure. Mutua also said an exhibit memo recording the seizure of the DVR was signed in the presence of Chief Inspector Samson Talaam, the station’s OCS.

Photographs presented in court showed cameras installed at several key locations, including the station entrance, report office, waiting bay, cells and the area outside the OCS’s office. Mutua added that IPOA would present footage from both Central Police Station and Mbagathi Hospital, showing Ojwang arriving at the station while able to walk and making phone calls before later being taken away in an unresponsive condition.