Technician Arrested for Tampering with CCTV in Teacher Ojwang Death Probe
Detectives in Nairobi have arrested a CCTV technician believed to have played a key role in tampering with surveillance footage at Nairobi’s Central Police Station—one of the critical locations under investigation in the mysterious death of teacher Albert Ojwang while in police custody.
The technician, identified as Kelvin Mutisya Matava, was arrested on Friday morning from his home in the Saika area of Nairobi. He becomes the second suspect taken into custody in connection with the controversial case.
Paid to Delete CCTV Footage
According to police sources, Matava confessed to receiving Sh3,000 from the Officer Commanding Station (OCS) to delete CCTV footage from the night Ojwang was detained—June 7, 2025. The footage reportedly included critical moments before and after the teacher was booked at the station.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) had earlier disclosed that the station’s CCTV hard drives were deliberately removed and formatted in what they described as a calculated effort to erase crucial evidence.
IPOA Chairperson Isaac Hassan told Parliament’s Security Committee that logs from the station’s Digital Video Recorder (DVR) showed the hard drives were formatted on June 8 at 7:23:29 a.m. and 7:23:48 a.m.
“Someone was instructed to shut down a specific section of the system, but they said it was only possible to shut down the entire CCTV system,” Hassan said—suggesting a coordinated attempt to cover up the events surrounding Ojwang’s death.
How the Plot Unfolded
Matava told police he had initially been contracted in 2024 to install the surveillance system at Central Police Station. It included 25 cameras placed in key areas such as the reporting desk, cell corridors, both floors, and the parking lot, with a DVR capable of storing 30 days’ worth of footage.
He said he had occasionally been called back for maintenance tasks. On the morning of June 8, he received a call from a female officer who instructed him to report to the station immediately.
Upon arrival, she led him to the OCS’s office, where the DVR was kept. There, both the OCS and the officer allegedly asked him to delete all footage from June 6 and 7.
Matava told them that selective deletion wasn’t possible, and the only way to proceed was to format the entire hard drive, erasing everything and resetting it to factory settings. He claimed he followed through with the task and was paid Sh3,000 for it.
Later that evening, the same female officer attempted to reach him twice but he didn’t answer. The next morning, she called again and asked him to return to the station with a new hard drive. She also warned him not to wear anything that would identify him as a technician, such as a reflector jacket.
When he returned without the hard drive—since electronics shops were still closed—he found the DVR machine had already been tampered with.
“She insisted again that I should not wear anything that would reveal my identity as a technician,” he told police.
Later that day, around 12:07 p.m., the officer called him again to check his availability. At the time, he was working in Westlands. She informed him that she had shared his contact with an IPOA officer who needed help retrieving CCTV footage.
Instead of going himself, Matava sent a colleague, claiming he was busy—and concerned about what was unfolding.
“I had seen online that someone had died under mysterious circumstances while in police custody,” Matava said. “Given the instructions I received from the OCS and the officer, I feared I could be in trouble.”
A Growing Scandal
Matava’s arrest came just one day after a police constable was also taken into custody in connection with the same case.
IPOA continues to investigate the circumstances under which Albert Ojwang, a teacher, died shortly after being booked at the station. The Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja, previously confirmed that Ojwang was registered under OB number 136/7/6/2025 at 9:35 p.m. on June 7, and died just hours later—raising serious concerns of police brutality and a possible cover-up.