Masengeli had revealed earlier that he was engaged in operational activities in Wajir.
The High Court has found acting Inspector General of Police Gilbert Masengeli guilty of contempt of court after failing to appear at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi for the sixth time.
High Court Judge Lawrence Mugambi on Monday, September 9 ruled that the interim police boss held the court at ransom and ought to be punished accordingly. According to the ruling, Masengeli must abide by the Constitution being a public official.
Masengeli had instead sent his Deputy Eliud Lagat, the Deputy Inspector General of the Kenya Police Service, to represent him at the High Court to answer for the disappearance of two siblings and an activist in Kitengela Town.
Acting Inspector General of Police Gilbert Masengeli. /X
“Masengeli is guilty of contempt and the court ought to punish him accordingly,” ruled the Judge, who set his sentencing for Friday, September 13, 2024.
The Judge at the same time summoned the commandant of the Security of Government Buildings (SGB) and VIP Protection Unit Lazarus Opicho to explain why he called his bodyguard and his driver to establish his whereabouts.
“We need to know the reasons for such an inquiry,” said the judge, who set September 13 as the deadline for Opicho to honour the summons.
Through lawyer Nelson Havi, petitioners questioned the court regarding Masengeli keeping them waiting so that he avail himself and thus should not only be convicted but also ousted from office.
“At the end of this, we will ask the court to do two fundamental things; to convict the acting IG for contempt of court and to sentence him to the highest permissible legal consequence.
“We want Gilbert Masengeli not to hold public office because it is not his personal property. Masengeli was attending a concert. In Kenya, a concert is treated as a matter of national importance. How shameful!” he blasted.
Masengeli had revealed earlier that he was engaged in operational activities in Wajir. Photos 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.
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.
However, the acting police boss was revealed to be attending the Mombasa International Show, and the state counsel requested that he be excused.
