The High Court has issued an order compelling IG Douglas Kanja and DCI boss Mohamed Amin to produce missing Busia businessman Ahmed Ibrahim Ali Mohamed, dead or alive, within 48 hours. The court also ordered them to pay Sh5.84 million in damages over his 292-day disappearance. Justice Samuel Mohochi issued the order, declaring Ahmed's disappearance since January 25, 2026, illegal, unconstitutional, and a violation of his fundamental rights.
The court awarded Ahmed Sh5.84 million in general, aggravated, and exemplary constitutional damages against the Inspector General, National Police Service, DCI, ATPU commander, Director-General of the National Intelligence Service, Interior Cabinet Secretary, and Attorney General, jointly and severally. The judge warned that the State could not escape accountability through blanket denials while a Kenyan citizen remained missing.
The court rejected the State's argument that Ahmed could have been abducted by criminals posing as police officers. The judge noted that the abduction took place at the Korinda Main Prison area, a highly secured zone where armed prison officers were stationed. The judge questioned how ordinary criminals could have stopped a passenger bus, switched on its interior lights, checked passengers' identification documents, removed Ahmed, and ransacked his luggage in full view of a heavily guarded prison facility without intervention.
The court found that police had failed to interview the bus driver, Peter Kimemia, despite his being at the front of the vehicle during the incident. It also faulted investigators for failing to visit Korinda Main Prison or interview armed prison officers who were on duty when the businessman was seized. The judge said these omissions undermined the State's explanation that Ahmed had been taken by civilian criminals.
The judge drew an adverse inference against the security agencies, noting that operational details surrounding the roadblock, including deployment rosters, vehicle logs, command structures, and intelligence records, were exclusively within the State's knowledge. The judge ruled that the executive could not defeat the liberty of a citizen based on unsupported conjecture.
The court directed the Inspector General and DCI director to convene a physical meeting with Ahmed's family within 14 days to tender an unreserved apology over what it described as institutional indolence, deliberate omissions, and failure to conduct timely and effective investigations. The two security chiefs must also publish a formal public apology within 21 days, including broadcasting it on at least two mainstream local radio stations within Busia County in Kiswahili and the predominant local dialect.
The court ordered the Inspector General to institute a comprehensive internal administrative inquiry into possible involvement, collusion, or gross negligence by officers from the National Police Service, DCI, and ATPU who participated in joint operations in Busia County on January 25, 2026. IPOA was ordered to immediately assume full, independent, and exclusive investigative control over Ahmed's disappearance and submit a comprehensive progress report to the court within 45 days.
Key points
- The High Court declared Ahmed's 292-day disappearance illegal, unconstitutional, and a violation of his fundamental rights.
- The court ordered IG Kanja and DCI boss Amin to produce Ahmed within 48 hours and pay him Sh5.84 million in damages.
- The court directed the Inspector General to institute an internal inquiry into possible involvement, collusion, or gross negligence by security officers.
