Instead, Masengeli on Monday, September 9 sent his Deputy Eliud Lagat, the Deputy Inspector General Kenya Police Service, to represent him at the High Court.
Acting Inspector General of Police Gilbert Masengeli has failed to appear at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, the sixth time the interim police boss has failed to appear to answer for the disappearance of two siblings and an activist in Kitengela Town.
Instead, Masengeli on Monday, September 9 sent his Deputy Eliud Lagat, the Deputy Inspector General Kenya Police Service, to represent him at the High Court.
He revealed that he was engaged in operational activities in Wajir. Photos seen by Viral Tea showed him in the company of other police bosses such as Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Mohamed Amin and commandant of the General Service Unit (GSU) Ranson Lolmodooni taking off from Wilson Airport in Nairobi for a security operations assessment of Mandera and Wajir counties.
Acting police IG Gilbet Masengeli and DCI director, Mohamed Amin board a police chopper at Wilson Airport, Nairobi on September 9, 2024. /X
“Presently in court in the Njagi/Longton brothers case. Impunity persists and IG Masengeli has yet again failed to appear in court. Instead, it’s Deputy IG Lagat who has attended.
“Police think they are above the law. This thinking must be dealt with,” posted activist Hussein Khalid on X.
The IG was summoned to appear in regard to an abduction case involving three activists who disappeared in Kitengela on August 19, 2024.
Masengeli failed to appear in court on September 4, 2024, after he informed the court that he was away attending a workshop in Mombasa.
The court had sounded a warning to Masengeli for skipping the summons, with Justice Lawrence Mugambi ordering Masengeli to appear before the court at 3:00 p.m. or else face consequences.
The judge revealed that the IG had not purged the contempt and that failure to appear in court would result in his punishment.
“If the court does not see the IG at 3 pm, it will have no choice but to proceed to make the filing of direct contempt of court for the disobedience of orders and proceed to declare or pronounce the consequences,” Mugambi stated.
However, the acting police boss was revealed to be attending the Mombasa International Show, and the state counsel has requested that he be excused.
Justice Mugambi however denounced the excuse, arguing that the court did not see why he was giving priority to the event over the court order, which was mandatory for him to honour.
He further argued that the explanation by a representative of the Attorney General that the IG was attending the Mombasa event was not good enough.
Masengeli was compelled to explain the whereabouts of the three, Bob Micheni, Jamil Longton and Aslam Longton, who were said to have been abducted in broad daylight.
Court documents previously indicated that the trio mobilised the youth through their social media accounts during the widespread anti-Finance Bill protests.
Instructively, the High Court had on August 23, 2024, issued a directive to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the National Police Service (NPS) to immediately reveal the victims’ whereabouts.
