Tensions boiled over in Rachuonyo East, Homa Bay County on Thursday after thousands of enraged youths stormed and set ablaze the Mawego Police Post, where the late blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang’ was first detained before his controversial transfer to Nairobi.
Ojwang’s body, which had been scheduled for public viewing at Nyawango Primary School, never reached the venue.
Instead, youths intercepted the funeral convoy roughly one kilometre from his family home in Kokwanyo Village, redirecting it to Mawego Police Station in a powerful protest gesture.
At Lida Shopping Centre, emotions escalated as the youths demanded that Ojwang’s body be taken to the station where his arrest began.
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Despite passionate pleas from Ojwang’s father to maintain the burial program and avoid confrontation, the youth refused to back down. A tense standoff lasting nearly three hours ensued.
Eventually, the demonstrators forcibly removed the coffin from the hearse and marched it to Mawego Police Station, chanting protest songs and denouncing police brutality.
Upon arrival, they overran the compound, removed barricades, and set parts of the facility on fire. By that time, police officers had vacated the station.
Homa Bay County Police Commander Lawrence Koilen, speaking to Citizen TV, confirmed that the OCS’s office was among those torched and condemned the incident, terming it criminal and uncalled for.
The incident occurred just a day after the family held a somber requiem mass for Ojwang’ at Ridgeways Baptist Church in Nairobi.
Mourners described the 28-year-old as humble, intelligent, and peaceful—taken far too soon under harrowing circumstances.
Ojwang’s mother, Eucabeth Ojwang, shared an emotional recollection of the day her son was arrested:
“They took my Albert just when I had prepared lunch for him. He had not even taken a bite of ugali before the police took him. When they came, Albert was trembling. I asked him what was wrong; he told me he had done nothing.”
Ojwang’s arrest and transfer from Homa Bay to Nairobi remain mired in controversy, with legal experts and human rights groups questioning its legality.
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