Albert Ojwang, the young teacher who was a victim of police brutality, was buried on Friday, July 4, 2025. The protests following his death had died down—until the body reached Homa Bay on Thursday, July 3, 2025, and the local youth vented their anger on the police station where he was held before being transferred to his death in Nairobi.

When he died in police custody early last month, the police issued an official statement that his death was due to self-inflicted wounds because he was hitting his head on the concrete walls of the police cell.

To date, that remains the official cause of death according to the police because they have never issued a statement correcting their stand, even after the post-mortem report contradicted their position, and ironically, even after their officers were arrested and arraigned over Ojwang’s death.

The top brass of Kenya’s law enforcement and investigative agencies appeared before the Parliament and gave a blow-by-blow account of what transpired, statements that have since been proven not to be a factual narrative, but they shamelessly soldier on, as more Kenyans become victims of police brutality.

Ideally, they lied under oath, on national TV, but have denied they did so, that their statements were the true account of events as recorded in the police station’s Occurrence Book, and it is the people who are getting it wrong.

There is never a dull moment in Kenya. And the excitement is brought to us by our leaders, elected and appointed, who, if it were not to be an insult to comedians, can best be called that.

They are economical with the truth, and think Kenyans have short memories, and rightfully so, for how else do we manage to have picked them as leaders, having known their lying past?

They tell us lies, and we can tell they are not being truthful, and we swear that we have learnt, and will be more careful, but come the next electioneering cycle, we forget their past misdeeds, and vote for them. It is not forgetting.

We just ignore them because we say, they are our thieves, and there are no better alternatives.

In the National Assembly, they pass laws that do not make our lives better; laws that impoverish us, that kill our businesses, that entrench police brutality, abductions, and even extra-judicial killings, but we still embrace them.

They sponsor bills that curtail freedom of assembly, of speech, that go against the fundamental freedoms, the Constitution, and the laws of natural justice, and tell us those draconian pieces of legislation are meant to improve our lives, to protect us. From who?

After the protests on June 25, 2025, held to honour those killed by the police last year, an incensed Interior Cabinet Secretary said the police should not take things lying down and must use their firearms on Kenyans, and the State will defend them to the hilt—wherever that is.

He was standing outside a police station, surrounded by senior and junior officers, and other public officials, and all was recorded.

Barely 48 hours later, he denied ever giving such orders. He said his words were twisted, taken out of context, and deliberately misunderstood. He was misquoted.

That is what the Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss also said. His words were taken out of context by enemies of the directorate. He was misquoted.

But his statements are part of the Parliament records, curated in the Hansard.

Next Friday, another victim of police brutality will be buried. A young street vendor who was shot in the head at point-blank range, as the world watched, thanks to communications technology, during the protests against police brutality after Ojwang’s death. Very ironic.

He did not provoke his killers; he was just selling masks and did not resist arrest. No one even tried to arrest him.

The trigger-happy police officer just shot him. Not anywhere else, but in the head, meaning that the intention was clear: Shoot to kill.

But a retired police officer was on national TV saying that he insulted the shooter. The retiree is probably the only person in the world who heard the words.

His hearing is so good, yet he cannot hear the cries of Kenyans who are being brutalised, maimed, and killed by police officers daily.

Funerals of victims of the police are being organised across the country, and the most the policing oversight authority can say is that investigations are underway.

Some investigations have been underway for years. No one knows for sure if anything will come out of the investigations, or if they are really going on.

The point is, ours is a nation of leaders and officials who do not have a relationship with the truth.

They thrive on peddling half-truths, nay, and lies. They do not realise that their stance only creates a trust deficit, so much so that on the rare occasion that they speak something close to the truth, conspiracy theorists get fodder.

Probably, ours would be a better society if our leaders, and the people they appoint or vet to higher offices, embraced the truth. But that is just a wish.

The writer is the Managing Editor of the Alliance for Science (AfS). These views are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the position of AfS or its partners