IG Kanja Responds To Judge's Threat To Jail Him

Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja has assured that he will appear at the High Court in honour of summons issued against him over allegations linking him to the recent abductions.

Kanja was speaking on Tuesday, January 21 when he revealed that he would be in court personally to attend to the orders issued by High Court Judge Bahati Mwamuye. 

The police boss had on Tuesday, January 8 failed to adhere to a summons issued by Justice Mwamuye over the allegations in the cases filed by human rights groups over the recent abductions.

The judge ordered the police chief to appear before the court to explain how the mysterious abductions occurred without police intervention.

Police IG Douglas Kanja at his office. /FILE

"There is no problem and when the time comes for me to appear in court, I shall show up personally and we will be together, is that so? I'll explain whatever I have said here," Kanja told journalists.

In response to skipping the summons, Justice Mwamuye warned that IG Kanja's failure to adhere to the orders would automatically attract penal sanctions including contempt of court. 

"Ordinarily when I issue my orders, and they are not complied with there are only three things I do. The first is that I find you in contempt, dispense with mitigation, and go straight to sentencing if it is clear in the face. The other route that I follow is I find you in contempt, I invite you for mitigation and sentencing,g and the third where it is not clear cut I invite you for notice to show cause," the judge said.

Justice Mwamuye then warned that if Kanja fails to appear in court during the third hearing on the matter, since set for Monday, January 27, he would have no option but to charge him and convict him at the same time.

Both Kanja and the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Mohamed Amin failed to appear before the court on Wednesday, January 8, to respond to questions regarding the abduction of seven people in a case filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), among others.

In Amin's case, the judge extraordinarily ruled that should the DCI boss not appear, he would be convicted on the spot. He will, however, be invited for a mitigation and sentencing hearing. 

The ruling, according to the judge, was out of character, as ordinarily, he would have ruled on IG Kanja’s absence from the second hearing. However, he chose to extend the grace period to the two in the interest of locating the one abductee out of six Kenyans abducted in December alone, who remains at large.

On the other hand, the IG announced that investigations into the recent abductions were at an advanced stage. He noted that he had given firm directives to the detectives on the investigations, noting that those responsible would be held to account.

"I want to say that investigations are at advanced levels in all reported cases of missing persons. I have given instructions that those investigations need to be done thoroughly and concluded," he stated.

"Those responsible have to be arrested and taken to court. They will be dealt with according to the law. When they will be arrested, we shall inform the public."

As at the time of publication, no one had been arrested over the abductions. DCI boss Amin is also yet to comment on the directive by the court to honour the summons or risk legal consequences.