Airport police boss Philip Ndolo replaced after Miguna drama

Kenya Airport Police Unit Commandant Philip Ndolo, the man under whose watch lawyer Miguna Miguna was held in a toilet cell and journalists brutalised like criminals at Jomo Kenyatta Airport in Nairobi, has been replaced. 

Mr Ndolo was recalled to Vigilance House, the police headquarters in Nairobi, over what is believed to be in connection the Miguna saga.

The Assistant Inspector-General of Police, who was stationed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, where Mr Miguna was held for three days and later deported, was ordered to hand over to his deputy Titus Karuri Ndung'u.

Though there was no official communication from police headquarters, informed sources associated the recall with the deportation saga.

Another official insinuated that one of Mr Miguna’s lawyers, Mr Cliff Ombeta, had during a TV interview said an unnamed police officer acted against instructions during the detention.

In an interview with BBC, Mr Ombeta said:  “We got somebody to sneak a phone to him, one of the police officer, in fact we were watching him. He is a symphathiser and he gave him a phone and we spoke to him.”

Mr Ndolo was once the director of operations at Vigilance before he was moved to the airport.

Mr Ndolo, who served in the General Service Unit, is believed to have called in the red berets who unleashed their brute force on journalists who were covering the standoff at the airport.

The officers, in full combat gear and behaving like hired goons, attacked and injured several journalists, including Nation TV cameraman Robert Gichira, Citizen TV reporter Stephen Letoo and KTN News Senior Reporter Sophia Wanuna.

The officers also blocked and roughed up Dr Miguna's lawyers as they sought to see him and serve court orders on immigration officials and Mr Ndolo.