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Kenyans Demand Justice for Albert Ojwang- Bonus Epiosde
48 Plays23 days ago
Albert Ojwang was a Kenyan teacher and blogger. He died in police custody after sharing his views online. In this episode of the Spark It Podcast, we tell his story in simple language. We explore why freedom of speech is important and how people in Kenya are calling for justice.
We discuss what happened, how communities reacted, and why it matters for everyone. Hear voices asking for truth, compassion, and human rights. Join us to learn how one person’s story can help us understand our own rights and the power of speaking up together today.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the Spark It podcast where we bring you inspiring conversations that spark your interest to do more and even spark your interest to start more conversations. And i your host, Helen Kimaru.
Albert Ojuang's Story and Arrest
00:00:11
Speaker
And on today's episode, um we will be talking about Albert Ojuang, a young Kenyan who died in police custody after he was ah ah after he was arrested by police here in Kenya.
00:00:25
Speaker
and i want us to sort of dissect what that means for every young Kenyan or for every Kenyan right now because police are supposed to serve and to protect so this is such a sad episode to actually cover and I wanted to give my thoughts on the same.
00:00:43
Speaker
so ah Who is Alberto Djang? For those people who are listening today and they do not know who Alberto Djang alberto dua hu alberto jung is Alberto Juang is a 31 year old or ro that yuan yeah old teacher and a social media influencer.
00:00:59
Speaker
He has a wife and I think a two year old son. Alberto Juang was actually ex-famous. He was very famous on ex.
00:01:10
Speaker
He was a blogger who was airing his thoughts on social media on the different things that are happening in Kenya. Just like every year in Kenya right now, and the fact that we have become very vocal about issues affecting us on a daily basis, and the fact that we are also demanding accountability, and the fact that we have always had this idea that freedom of expression is such a thing in Kenya.
00:01:35
Speaker
And now, every waking day, it kind of feels like freedom of expression might be a far-fetched idea ah at this particular time.
00:01:48
Speaker
So, as I said, Alberto Djuang was ah a that one-year-old teacher. he was he would He was teaching in Voya as a Kiswahili teacher. And he was arrested on Saturday in Homa Bay County.
00:02:02
Speaker
by the DCI, which is a Directorate of Criminal Investigation here in Kenya. And he was accused of publishing false ah and defamatory content about the Kenya Police Service Deputy Inspector General, Elliot Lagarde.
00:02:23
Speaker
He was arrested in Homba Bay where he had gone to actually visit his family. And on Saturday day in the afternoon, according to the news that we have right now, is when ah this yeah the DCI officers showed up at his home and arrested him And when they did these arrests, the dad actually, they took him.
00:02:44
Speaker
They took him and also the dad also, ah you know, started his safari all the way from Homer Bay. So the controversial thing about this whole issue is that he was arrested in Homer Bay, but he was booked at a police station here in Nairobi.
00:03:04
Speaker
which is about more than 300 kilometers away. And that has also been one of the bone of contentions with Kenyans because a lot of times if you are arrested in one particular location, you're going to be booked in that particular location, not ferried kilometers away to a different location.
00:03:22
Speaker
So when this happened, his father actually took the step of coming to Nairobi. And one of the clips I have watched online was the father had come to Nairobi with the title D because Albert was arrested on a weekend.
00:03:41
Speaker
So if he was to appear in court, he would have appeared in court on a Monday. He was arrested on Saturday, which was on the 7th, so he would have appeared on the 9th in court. to be maybe read his charges and you know whatever happens in court and follow the due process.
00:03:57
Speaker
So his father actually carried ae to his land title D with the idea of if maybe he goes to court, he will produce, and maybe they're asked to pay bail, he'll produce the title D and guarantee bail for his son so that he can go home.
00:04:15
Speaker
But that never happened.
00:04:19
Speaker
Alberto Djuang died in police custody.
Mystery and Doubts Surrounding Albert's Death
00:04:23
Speaker
The police are supposed to serve and to protect.
00:04:29
Speaker
And that's exactly, after that happened, the everything became, um people had questions. Because Alberto Djuang, there's a little,
00:04:42
Speaker
audio of him speaking to his friend and asking him, by the way, how how i usually how ah how are the conditions of a police cell? Will I be safe and all that? And this friend tells him, yeah, you'll be okay. There is usually no issue.
00:04:56
Speaker
In short, no one expects that you can be arrested and die in police custody. That is very, very much unheard of. And I guess this is why this whole thing has actually like blown up.
00:05:14
Speaker
um on monday On Monday, there was a press briefing, and I was watching this press be briefing. the ah The inspector general was giving details about surrounding the death of Alberto Djuang.
00:05:29
Speaker
And the initial press briefing said that Alberto Djuang had sort of unalived himself And the more i watched these news, there was a lot of questions in my mind.
00:05:42
Speaker
And when I went to onto social media on different platforms, be it Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, people were asking so many questions. Somebody's asking, so for somebody who is who is this hopeful about life, why would they?
00:05:56
Speaker
The press briefing said that Alberto Djuang, he had sustained a head injuries because he banged himself against a wall. So the question was, people were asking, why would somebody bang themselves against a wall?
00:06:11
Speaker
It must be so painful to bang yourself against a wall until you die. I saw one comment asking if you were to even try right now and try banging yeah your head on a wall, the first attempt you do it, it will be so painful for you, you wouldn't even do it another time.
00:06:32
Speaker
And if you are saying you are okay and you had even been asking your friend whether how a cell looks like and if you'll be able to survive the whole ordeal, um then that means that person was hopeful about life because Alberto Djuang died less than 24 hours after he was arrested.
00:06:52
Speaker
He was arrested on a Saturday afternoon, and I think by Sunday morning, he was already dead. So some people have been had those questions of how can somebody turn suicidal in such a short period of time.
00:07:09
Speaker
So the all these questions now, ah and the fact that Kenyans, I i am so glad that young Kenyans and even Kenyans started asking questions.
00:07:19
Speaker
Because if we have we had not asked started asking questions or people had not ah started asking questions, nothing would have been done. A couple of weeks ago, I think it's i think almost a month ago, an MP, a member of parliament here in Kenya was shot dead.
00:07:36
Speaker
on the streets of Nairobi. And there was all these uproar, especially from the political elite, about the death of this ah particular MP who was shot dead.
00:07:47
Speaker
And i remember that time you would actually try to watch news and everything you would hear is MP, MP dead, blah, blah. you know They were trying to find solutions and trying to find his killer.
00:08:02
Speaker
And I think in less than three days, there was already somebody who had been arrested. they They had already scraped CCTV footage of this ah whatever happening, tracing the last steps of this person from when they left parliament building to when they were actually shot dead.
00:08:22
Speaker
So ah the manner in which this case was handled was very swift, extremely swift. And I think the one thing that has made Kenyans ah pretty mad is that you can clearly see the difference, how the political elite are um they given sort of ah priority here in Kenya when every day ah an everyday ah citizens their plight is ignored.
00:08:52
Speaker
And were it not for the people here on social media talking about this thing and pushing and asking questions and creating videos or content around owned his death, maybe he would have been any other statistic.
00:09:10
Speaker
we would not have been having this conversation. But Kenyans are at a point in our lives where we demand for accountability. We are asking questions. We know we deserve better.
00:09:21
Speaker
And that's exactly how we we people have been handling issues.
Implications on Freedom of Speech
00:09:26
Speaker
So Alberto Djang, was arrested because he, as as I said, they say that he had put um ah defamatory content about the deputy inspector general on Twitter as a blogger.
00:09:43
Speaker
So the other question I have right now is, as a young Kenyan, does it mean that... ah If we ask for accountability or if we defame somebody or if we go about our business posting on social media and all that, does that mean that we will end up in body bags?
00:10:05
Speaker
That's actually my question. How can you putting defamatory content online lead to your death? what does the constitution say about this because as far as i'm concerned and what i know for sure is that he was supposed to be arrested arraigned in court charged with whatever offense and at the end of the day ah you know if found guilty
00:10:36
Speaker
he was supposed to have either been ah paid for the offense or something like that, but for somebody to be arrested, and in less than 24 hours, they die in police custody.
00:10:49
Speaker
So anyway, what happened was, for those who don't know, um... When people started asking these questions, ah when people started asking these questions so a post-mattom was actually ah requested.
00:11:05
Speaker
and there was also this idea of, it's like these things are not being so clear. people be saying he has The police be saying he has committed suicide and stuff like that, and it doesn't look like it's really suicide.
00:11:20
Speaker
And so ah when the postmattom was done, the suicide idea or this whole idea of him banging himself against a wall was actually ruled out.
00:11:31
Speaker
So the question is, who killed Alberto Juang? And did Alberto Juang deserve to die, and especially in police custody?
00:11:44
Speaker
It's been one year since the Gen Z's here in Kenya, we held the protests last year when they were protesting we were protesting against the ah finance bill.
00:11:57
Speaker
It kind of feels so deja vu for something like this to be happening at such a time. Because last year, a lot of young people lost their lives because they were demanding for accountability, they were asking for better.
00:12:11
Speaker
And it kind of feels, in my personal opinion, as if the police brutality that was experienced at that time ah set a very bad precedent for what is happening today.
Pattern of Police Brutality and Lack of Accountability
00:12:22
Speaker
Because since June of last year, 2024, there have been a lot of kidnappings, people disappearing, and eventually a lot of times they are found dead and no one is held accountable.
00:12:37
Speaker
And at some point, the government said that we are not the ones who are abducting people. Then another time, somebody in government says, oh, we have put ah an end to the abductions.
00:12:47
Speaker
What does that mean? It means people in government were doing this. So it's it's kind of a sad it's kind of asad precedent that was set, very bad pace, that people could disappear and show up in body bags. And now it kind of feels like it's police brutality, um abuse of power, lack of accountability. That's exactly what is happening right now.
00:13:15
Speaker
And in the last two days, there have been ah proceedings, um in Senate and people have ah the the Senate has been discussing this whole issue and demanding for accountability.
00:13:27
Speaker
The internal security minister was in ah she showed up in the chambers and the inspector general of police showed up, the DCI showed up, and they were all giving these accounts of what they think should have happened or what happened.
00:13:45
Speaker
And in all these as as all this is happening, there is no CCTV footage to show what happened to Alberto Djuang. Alberto Djuang was placed in a cell alone.
00:13:57
Speaker
So no no no one can account in terms of if he had like inmates around him or cellmates, no one can give an account of what happened to him. It's only the police or the people who handled him, no And the fact that there is no CCTV footage, it becomes even more controversial.
00:14:14
Speaker
As I was listening to these proceedings, one of the ladies, I don't remember her name, she she came and said that the CCTV was not plugged in. It was not on. So you wonder, was it deliberate?
00:14:28
Speaker
Was it a deliberate attempt to cover up for something that had already happened? And then today, today is ah Thursday the 12th. In the morning, I woke up to the Star newspaper saying that Alberto Djuang was actually tortured in one of the biggest forests in in ah the city, Karura Forest.
00:14:50
Speaker
He was tortured there and then taken out of police custody before he was rushed to the hospital. So there's actually like so many accounts of what might have happened to Alberto Djuang.
00:15:02
Speaker
But the sad thing is that Alberto Djuang is no longer here. Alberto Djuang cannot tell us the truth. Alberto Djuang cannot speak for himself. Alberto Djuang had a family. Alberto Djuang was somebody's son.
00:15:16
Speaker
As a young person, even as I reflect on what has happened to this man, I feel sad because you kind of wonder Are you next?
00:15:27
Speaker
Are we next? Who is next? You know, if we have gotten to these levels of no accountability, especially to from people who are supposed to serve and protect us, then you start wondering, daring am I going to be next?
00:15:41
Speaker
If I voice my opinion, if I speak up against an issue like this, like the way i'm right I'm actually doing this video right now, or the way so many people have created so many videos advocating for Alberto John, you wonder, are you going to be next?
00:15:55
Speaker
The government is already working on, I think, a bill to have you know access to our social media and all these why why Why are people in government so afraid of accountability, so afraid of being called out, so afraid of young people asking or demanding for accountability or demanding for better?
00:16:18
Speaker
Why is it so hard to be accountable? Why would you want to rule ah people? um ah in terms of like instill fear in people so that you can rule them?
00:16:30
Speaker
Is it really necessary? um and was reading comments online ah from Kenyans giving their opinions about this whole thing.
Public Outcry and Demand for Justice
00:16:40
Speaker
And one person actually said, this feels like, you know, when you're in a relationship where your partner does maybe like a strange thing to test your reaction and see what they can get away with.
00:16:53
Speaker
And this person was saying that the leadership in Kenya right now is definitely feels like that's what they have been doing, testing the waters to see what they can get away with.
00:17:04
Speaker
Because the rate at which young people have lost their lives, the rate at which police brutality has just skyrocketed, it just feels like you're testing the waters to see if we do this, what would be the reaction of the masses.
00:17:19
Speaker
If we do that, what would they do? ah would they show up on the streets? Today in particular, people went to the streets, they were protesting, they are demanding accountability, they are demanding justice for Alberto Juang, and they demanding that the Deputy Inspector General Elliot Lagarde steps down.
00:17:41
Speaker
because also there's this idea of, so, you are the complainant, because, ah again, at the end of the day, I think by Monday we knew who had who was complaining about this defamation, which is the DIG. So he was the complainant. So people are wondering, why would he still, like, the investigation is ongoing, why can't he resign?
00:18:02
Speaker
Why would he be there? And there has been this sentiment around... like wouldn't this tamper with the whole process of accountability and demanding better for Alberto Djuang. Because Alberto Djuang is not here.
00:18:16
Speaker
He cannot speak up for himself. He cannot demand justice for himself. And that's why Kenyans were on the streets today. They were protesting. And again, they are being tear-gassed for the same.
00:18:27
Speaker
So you wonder, where are we really... My question is, where are we really headed? How can we demand for better if our own leaders don't give us room to actually say how we want to be led or to actually be part of the decision making or did they ah be part of the table discussion? that demands for accountability. Why can't we sit on that table and demand for accountability in a very sane way without people losing their lives?
00:18:58
Speaker
A father now does not have a son. as A son does not have a father now. A lady does not have, you know, like a lady lost their husband. You know, it's it's so sad.
Leadership, Governance, and Call to Action
00:19:10
Speaker
And how many times do we have to do all this activism? How many times do we need to keep talking about these things? How many people will have to lose their lives before we say enough is enough?
00:19:25
Speaker
Like how many people have to lose their lives before we can realize that this is just, it's a little bit much.
00:19:35
Speaker
And again, as I said, if it was not for people advocating for Albert, maybe we would not be having this conversation. Maybe his death would would have also been just any other statistics.
00:19:48
Speaker
Freedom of speech in Kenya, Article 33.
00:19:55
Speaker
we we We are living in a time where it kind of feels like people are just... um They are just interpreting the constitution the way they want and how it works for them, and especially the people in leadership.
00:20:10
Speaker
So they interpret the constitution the way they want it to work for them, and then they use that to castigate young people from doing all these things. We demand for accountability. They're like, nah, you won't go through that. we We try to say we want this or that.
00:20:27
Speaker
It doesn't happen. Because why? Somebody somewhere believes that they are not accountable to anyone, you shouldn't ask questions.
00:20:38
Speaker
Let me read for you some of the comments that I have come across online with regards to Alberto John. And let me tell you, even before I do that, it kind of it's such a sad thing.
00:20:48
Speaker
um i was actually reading somewhere, somebody in some poetry group. I mean, someone was saying that yesterday, think, when they were leaving work, they were kind of feeling unsafe. And then another one, who is also a poet, said that they are wondering, with all the work that they put out there, um...
00:21:06
Speaker
i Because their poets boy i like activists. yeah They put a lot of ah work out there that probably talk about the political elite not being accountable, or stuff like that, or trying to call people out for the things that are happening out here. So they were wondering if they are really safe, do they need to actually be, you know,
00:21:28
Speaker
Do they need to be afraid for their lives? Do they need to actually look back every time they are walking around and wondering if somebody is actually following them? So you see, I wonder, is that the kind of life they want us to live where you have to be afraid to say what you think and stuff like that?
00:21:46
Speaker
What are the courts for? I defamed you. Take me to court. I'll serve my due process. If I need to pay you or I need to go to jail, let me go to jail. But it doesn't mean I should die.
00:21:58
Speaker
So I saw a video online just about this whole thing ah to do with Albert. And somebody was ah say said, and whoever did whoever did it went home to me meet his kids and wife and told them how he had a good day at work.
00:22:20
Speaker
Another one said, um
00:22:24
Speaker
Just a moment. Another one said, one day we shall wake up and redeem back our country. This is too much to handle anymore. Then another one quoted Albert's dad. Albert's dad in one of the interviews said, they killed my son and went home milk with milk and bread for their children.
00:22:46
Speaker
And then another one says, may his spirit may his spirit haunt those responsible for his death. May they lack peace for the rest of their lives. May the tears of his dad don't go in vain.
00:22:58
Speaker
It's so painful. And then another one says, i will never vote in Kenya again. Then they somebody replied to that one in particular. They said, that doesn't help.
00:23:09
Speaker
Just make a better choice no matter how unpopular it is. Yeah, by the way, honestly, with regards to voting, I think we really need better leadership. Even as as yeah as citizens, as young people, honest honestly, I feel like we ah we are part of the problem in one way or the other because we we our vote our vote really counts.
00:23:31
Speaker
And we need to, inasmuch as we are demanding for accountability and lead and good leadership and governance, I think also even in the next election we need to do better as people who have the ability to vote for the leaders that we want.
00:23:46
Speaker
And us all honestly also, also think that as young people we need to take up leadership positions and because if we think we can do better and we know we can do better, then we need to put ourselves out there so that people can elect us and so that we can have that better leadership.
00:24:03
Speaker
yeah So they yeah, that those are some of the comments. um Then there's another another one that says, the most painful part is ah that that the dad had even carried title deed to come bail out his son, only to reach at Central Police Station and be told that his son is no more.
00:24:25
Speaker
Then with regards to what I had talked about as initial initial press briefing, being that he had unalived himself, somebody says, there's no way this guy took his life. You can literally hear the fear he had about his life.
00:24:39
Speaker
He was murdered in the hands of the so-called police officers, whom could have protected him and said, where did humanity go for real? This is so painful, considering he was also an only child.
00:24:52
Speaker
As I'm recording this, I was reading some statement that was released not long ago that one of one of the police officers ah has been arrested and will be charged with his murder.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:25:06
Speaker
But I think i still there's that feeling of, you know there's that feeling of Is that really the the the person who did this or ah there are there more people that were actually involved and one of them is the only one who is taking the fall for everyone else?
00:25:28
Speaker
What I know is that Albert diss deserved better and his dad diss deserved better. His child to deserved better. His wife deserved better. And we as Kenyans deserve better.
00:25:40
Speaker
We demand for accountability. And I don't think where we are headed now is a good is a good space. And it kind of feels sad. You know, growing up, I would see the way some East African countries, you would hear a lot of stories and how maybe even people don't have freedom of expression and stuff like that.
00:26:00
Speaker
And it used to feel like one of those things that is so far-fetched until it happens to you. Until till it happens to you. And now you live in a state where you don't know should i say what is on my mind or should i not and stuff like that it's really such a sad state of affairs honestly
00:26:24
Speaker
justice for alberto juan honestly let us know your thoughts on our on our comment section especially here especially on on youtube and tiktok um Thank you for listening to this episode on tuning in.
00:26:41
Speaker
It's been the Spark It podcast. If this podcast has inspired you to take action where there is injustice, do whatever it is that you can do to change the ah little corner of your world.
00:26:57
Speaker
Speak up. Don't be part of the problem. Speak up and demand for accountability regardless of where you are, whether in your community, in your country, at school, at to work, because we need we we we deserve better and we need people to be accountable.
00:27:19
Speaker
Yes, subscribe to our YouTube channel. And thank you until the next episode. Keep it at this packet podcast.
00:27:30
Speaker
Bye.
00:27:32
Speaker
For Alberto Jung, in the darkest of nights I'm haunted and now in broad daylight I have the same feeling. That feeling where the hair in your body stands still, the air is eerie, engulfed in sadness and a pain untold.
00:27:48
Speaker
parent somewhere in Homabay will never live to see their son. See, we now try to have a good night's sleep But you are haunted by the very shadows of bad decisions where we cannot speak up in peace, demand for accountability, or go through the due process.
00:28:04
Speaker
When those who supposed to serve and protect become the very enemies of the people. and lies upals and the life undignified When dignified. When you live in fear of being next, wondering, is tomorrow gonna be my turn?
00:28:20
Speaker
Albert was young, was and will always be someone's son. Alberto Dwang can no longer speak up for himself, but Alberto Dwang deserved better. Say his name, Alberto Dwang, justice for Alberto Dwang.