A heartbreaking video has surfaced showing the father of slain teacher and blogger, Albert Ojwang, pleading with protesters not to take his son’s body to the police station.
Mzee Meshack Opiyo, Albert’s father, was seated inside the hearse with his wife and grandson. On Thursday, July 3, they escorted Ojwang’s body from Nairobi to Homa Bay County.
When they arrived at Lida Market, student protesters from Mawego National Polytechnic, joined by angry mourners, stopped the procession.
They demanded that Ojwang’s body be taken to Mawego Police Station, where he had first been detained following his arrest at his parents’ home in Kakoth village on June 7, before being transferred to Nairobi.
Albert Ojwang was beaten and strangled to death in custody on June 8, according to the autopsy.
The protesters saw this as a symbolic protest, a way of speaking out against police brutality and what they believed was an unjust death.
A planned funeral ceremony at Nyawango Primary School, where lessons had been suspended and tents erected, was disrupted by the growing unrest.
Inside the hearse, Mzee Opiyo, overwhelmed with grief and exhaustion, pleaded with the crowd to let them proceed with the burial journey.
His voice cracked as he tried to reason with them, saying Albert Ojwang’s wife had not eaten and was too weak to continue.
“You will end up killing this woman too,” he said in the viral video.
“We have come from far, passed many places. We have discussed all we can. What more can help at the station?”
Albert Ojwang’s wife, Nevnina Onyango, leaned quietly against the window of the hearse, visibly drained. Their young grandson sat silently nearby, unaware of the chaos around him.
Mzee Opiyo asked the protesters to think about his family. He said what mattered now was laying his son to rest and leaving justice to God.
“If the mother gets hurt, I’ll be burying two people,” he cried out.
The emotional appeal, however, fell on deaf ears.
The agitated crowd chased away police officers who had been assigned to escort the body. Videos from the scene show angry mourners blocking the police Land Cruiser and forcing it to leave.
Then they hoisted Albert Ojwang’s coffin onto their shoulders and began the 3-kilometre march to Mawego Police Station, chanting in Dholuo: “Albert never killed anyone”.
Once at the station, tensions exploded.
Mourners Carrying Albert Ojwang’s Body Burn Police Station
The mourners pelted the building with stones, and with police officers having already fled, they stormed the station. Critical files were destroyed, including investigation reports, witness statements, and the Occurrence Book. The station’s signpost and roadblock barriers were also pulled down and carried away.
Part of the station was set on fire, including residential quarters for officers. A police report later confirmed that the report office and OCS’s office had been damaged.
A contingent of police from surrounding areas arrived in full riot gear, but rather than confront the mourners, they turned into firefighters. They used buckets and jugs to extinguish the flames and managed to save some uniforms, furniture, and electronics from the blaze.
By 4:00 PM, four police Land Cruisers were deployed to secure the area. It remains unclear if any firearms or sensitive equipment were lost.
After the destruction, Ojwang’s body was returned to Lida Market.
Mourner had gathered at his family home for an emotional night vigil filled with songs, sorrow, and storytelling ahead of his burial.
By Vivian K.