Kyalo Mbobu's murder: Who is this man in black?

Police appear to be groping in the dark in search of the men who killed Nairobi lawyer Kyalo Mbobu.

Questions have emerged over why the investigators have yet to review CCTV footage that captured a middle-aged man carrying a black backpack just outside the Town House building that houses Mbobu’s office.

The footage seen by The Sunday Standard shows the man speaking on the phone, making an abrupt stop outside the building entrance seconds before lawyer Mbobu left his office.

As Mbobu walks towards Wabera Street and then City Hall Way, the man is seen immediately, making a U-turn while speaking on the phone and walking towards the general direction of the lawyer.

Shortly after, a motorcycle rider is seen passing outside the building.

By  Saturday, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations detectives had yet to request the footage or visit the business owner whose camera captured Mbobu's last moment.

Also, in the lift inside the building, as Mbobu leaves the office, he is seen ushering out another man.

It is not clear why police seem to have no interest in obtaining and reviewing the television footage.

At Kaunda Street, where Town House is, there are at least 10 cameras covering the area from the next and opposite buildings.

Mbobu used Parliament Road and then Mombasa Road before turning to Lang'ata Road.

Police did not disclose whether they are treating the suspicious man in a black jacket and carrying a backpack as a person of interest.

By yesterday evening, police had identified five more people captured on CCTV cameras at Sagret Hotel and were pursuing them for questioning. 

Sources within top police ranks revealed that detectives have not yet unearthed any tangible leads and are relying on cell phone information from the slain lawyer's phone to try to piece together a workable strategy.

The source further added that the arrest of a city politician, George Wainaina, his nephew Paul Mbugua and Mbobu's neighbour Eric Muhia was simply a knee-jerk reaction because of public pressure.

"They simply arrested the soft targets. The people who were last seen with him on CCTV. Even the cops handling the matter know they don’t have the suspects, but because of pressure from above, and to show the political class that something is being done, they have to throw someone in the cell," said our source within the police top brass.

The source added that the order by the Director of Public Prosecution to the police Inspector General to have an investigation report within seven days also doesn’t allow the police to do their work.

“It is unnecessary and unprofessional pressure. Do killers leave clues that must only be found within seven days? The DPP’s pressure is making police cobble together something to please the bosses, but it’s not credible. The IG should not have bowed to political pressure. He should have simply said no, and let his officers work without pressure.”

He adds that the fact that the Wainaina is a licensed gun holder also gave police an excuse to hold him as they take his gun for ballistics tests.

"There is a reason why they were arrested on a Thursday and questioned until Friday morning. It is because the police wanted them to spend the weekend in the cells. Had they been arrested and booked in on Thursday, police would have had to arraign them in court by Friday.”

Our source within the police said that the city's CCTV system is practically dead, and police have to ask private citizens who have mounted cameras to help them with footage.

The same helplessness within the police was also witnessed after Kasipul MP Ongondo Were was killed. The national and county governments don't have operational CCTV cameras in the city and on highways. Police had to plead with businessmen who installed CCTV cameras for footage to help them solve Were's brutal assassination.

The ballistic report from the three cartridges that were collected from the scene of the crime and the two bullet heads removed from Mbobu's body is expected to come out today or Monday.

It also emerged that the report from Mbobu's phone does not narrow down to potential suspects.

He opted to use Magadi Road to access Bogani Road, where his house is located, but he did not know death was knocking on his door.

Traffic was slowly building heading to Ronga,i and just after the Brookhouse School, the assassins struck.

He shot the lawyer several times with eight bullets hitting the lawyer on the head, neck and torso causing him to bleed to death.

The shooter then boarded an awaiting motorcycle and fired several times in the air to scare away responders and bodaboda riders who were after them.

In 2014, the government launched a massive traffic surveillance system in Nairobi. Chinese tech giant Huawei provided the hardware, software, and installation services. This came in the wake of the September 2013 Westgate attack, where 67 people were killed by terrorists.

To beef up security, a modern security surveillance system boasting 2000 cameras was launched. 

By last count, only 42 CCTV cameras were operational within Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD) under the Integrated Urban Surveillance System project for Nairobi Metropolitan.

"This is the biggest impediment to police work. Police are not fortune tellers who can see the future. You give them work to do, but also give them infrastructure to do the work. Without CCTV, how can the police know and track the movements of the lawyer and his killers? For Ongondo Were, CCTV helped pin the killers," says a police boss.