A scene of raw emotion and potent protest unfolded in Homa Bay today, as grieving youths, bearing the coffin of the late Albert Ojwang, stormed Mawego Police Station and set sections of it ablaze. This dramatic incident marks a profound escalation in the community’s demand for justice following Ojwang's controversial death in police custody.
In a powerful and unsettling video circulating online, a colossal crowd can be seen surging forward, with a few individuals bravely hoisting the coffin aloft. The procession, which had just arrived in Homa Bay from Nairobi, moved with a palpable intensity. Running and singing mournful dirges, the youths marched directly towards Mawego Police Station – the very place where Albert Ojwang was first booked upon his arrest on June 7, before his subsequent transfer to the Central Police Station in Nairobi.
Initially, the act of taking the body to the police station was reportedly explained as a traditional exercise intended to ward off evil spirits that might disturb Ojwang’s peace. However, the situation rapidly spiraled into chaos. The mourners, fueled by grief and simmering anger, transformed into impassioned protesters, culminating in parts of the police station being engulfed in flames.
This eruption of protest comes just a day after a poignant requiem service was held for Albert Ojwang on Wednesday, July 2, at the Ridgeways Baptist Church in Nairobi. During the service, family and friends eulogised him as an unproblematic individual whose life was tragically cut short too soon.
His mother, Eucabeth Ojwang, shared a heartbreaking account of her last moments with her son. "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," she recounted, her words painting a vivid picture of the abrupt and cruel nature of his arrest. She also recalled his fear: "When they came, Albert was trembling. I asked him what was wrong; he told me he had done nothing." Her testimony underscores the family's conviction that Albert was innocent and their profound sense of loss and injustice.
