IPOA Accuses DIG Lagat, Senior Officers of Withholding Records During Rex Masai Probe

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Deputy Inspector General Eliud Lagat and senior police commanders have been accused of withholding key records and giving contradictory accounts in the investigation into the shooting of protester Rex Masai during the June 2024 anti-finance bill demonstrations that happened in Nairobi.

Appearing before the inquest, Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) senior investigator Justin Nyatete told Principal Magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo that police leadership did not fully cooperate with investigators.

He said crucial operational documents were not provided despite repeated requests.

Nyatete told the court that IPOA had sought operational orders, deployment schedules, arms movement registers and Occurrence Book (OB) extracts from the National Police Service.

A photo of Rex Kanyike Masai/file

The records, he said, were never released.

This, he added, forced IPOA to move to court to compel compliance.

The court heard that former Nairobi Regional Police Commander Adamson Bungei initially declined to provide the documents for review at IPOA offices.

The matter was later escalated to Deputy Inspector General Eliud Lagat.

Nyatete testified that after a court order was served at police headquarters, DIG Lagat responded in writing.

In a statement written to independent police oversight authority,the DIG Eliud Lagat stated that there was no formal operational order because the June 20, 2024 protests were spontaneous.

DIG said officers responded as events unfolded and no prior deployment plan had been drawn.

However, IPOA said this account conflicted with earlier statements recorded from senior officers involved in the operation.

Nyatete went ahead and pointed to a statement from former Nairobi operational commander Doris Mugambi.

Mugambi had reportedly said officers were briefed at around 5am on June 18,2024 before being deployed across the city ahead of the protests.

He further told the court that officers from several units, including the Administration Police Service, General Service Unit (GSU) and Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU), attended a briefing at KICC.

“This was a multi-agency operation yet the National police service are telling the court the protests were spontaneous,” Nyatete said.

He told the court the contradiction raised concerns about the consistency of information being supplied by senior police leadership.

Nyatete also said several commanders failed to honour IPOA summonses during the investigation.

He further added that IPOA was never given a complete list of officers deployed to various locations during the demonstrations despite obtaining an order from the court.

The inquest into the killing of Rex Masai continues.

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