Not so long after the controversial death in a police cell in Nairobi of a schoolteacher and activist, two new incidents are raising eyebrows. Albert Ojwang was picked up by police from his parents’ home in Homa Bay and driven 400 kilometres away to the capital city, only for him to die in unexplained circumstances.

What transpired and who is to blame for his death will come to light once the ongoing trial is concluded. But the National Police Service (NPS), whose cardinal responsibility is to protect lives and property, has a case to answer.

Two more deaths in police cells in Murang’a and Kakamega counties are a source of concern. A family in Kakamega is demanding an independent investigation and justice after their son died in police custody shortly after his arrest last Saturday.

In Murang’a, the NPS is also under scrutiny again, as a family disputes a suicide theory in yet another police station death.

It is the tale of a 35-year-old man police claim hanged himself inside the operations room at Kenol Police Station on August 5. His father has dismissed the police account as a fairy tale he cannot buy. His son had been missing for a week before he died.

He says he became even more suspicious when DCI officers allegedly offered to pay for the post-mortem examination and defray the burial costs. He is seeking help to hire a private pathologist and wants the Independent Police Oversight Authority (Ipoa) to investigate the matter.

When the schoolteacher was killed, activists condemned his death as the continuation of the police brutality and impunity that claimed more than 60 young lives during last year’s anti-government protests against “punitive and oppressive” tax proposals.

There is a need to quickly and impartially investigate these two suspicious deaths in police cells.