The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has dismissed as fake claims made by Otsieno Namwaya, Human Rights Watch (HRW) Associate Africa Director, that its officers are harrassing, and initimidating him by constantly surveilling his house.
Namwaya, on September 8, 2025, claimed that plainclothes officers from DCI’s Operations Support Unit (OSU) have been monitoring his residence for the past two weeks, saying that his life and those of his family are in danger.
However, the DCI has come out to clarify that Otsieno is not a subject of any ongoing investigations by the agency.
In a statement, the DCI asserts that it has no involvement whatsoever with Otsieno, and neither with his associates.
“We advise Mr. Otsieno to promptly report to the nearest police station should he observe any activities that he perceives as a threat to his safety and security, ensuring that immediate police action can be taken,” the DCI says.
In his claims, Namwaya had said that the officers were not behaving like police officers but people who were ready to commit a crime.
The Human Rights Watch has attributed Namwaya’s alleged harrasment to the publication of two reports, by the organisation, that documented police abuses during anti-government protests.
Otsieno Namwaya: Rights Watch claims
Human Rights Watch says that between August 23 and 25, 2025, security officials conducted surveillance at Namwaya’s house. The incidents followed weeks of attempts by the said officers to clandestinely get access to Namwaya.
“The surveillance of a Human Rights Watch staff member is a stark reminder of the ongoing threats and repression facing rights activists in Kenya today,” said Federico Borello, interim executive director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of allowing police units to target activists, Kenyan authorities should be working to improve the space in which civil society operates.”
The organisation further says that three contacts in Namwaya’s neighborhood told him that on the evening of August 23, a group of six men, who appeared to be plainclothes officers, parked their three vehicles at a local police station. They then walked toward and around Namwaya’s neighborhood.
“The sources said six men, apparently the same officers, returned on the morning of August 25, again parking apparently the same three vehicles at the nearby police station. Witnesses saw the six talking briefly with officers in the station which was open and then walked to Namwaya’s house, with one of them constantly on his phone.”
In another claim, the Human Rights Watch says that the team of six, one of whom witnesses said seemed to be taking pictures of the house using his phone, stood around the house for a few hours while also talking on his phone.
Namwaya has led Human Rights Watch work in Kenya for over 13 years, during which he has documented the use of excessive force and other abuses by the Kenyan security forces, including the police, in the context of protests. He documented recent abuses during the 2024 and 2025 protests.
