Private investigator Jane Wawira Mugo who has been listed as a wanted criminal by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) insists she is not a criminal.
Speaking to a local media Today, Jane said the warrant of arrest issued against her has been fuelled by an investigation case she has been working on that reveals alleged corruption among top security officials in the government.
On Wednesday Ms. Wawira’s life took a different turn with her work as a private investigator being washed down by a tweet from the DCI that painted her as a wanted serial criminal.
However, in an interview with local media at her safe house, Ms. Wawira wore her badge with honor even as she fears that her life is one that will end by the bullet.
“I am not surprised because I saw it coming, and I had already been prepared by some of the officers I had worked with, I had already been told that since I am working on a sensitive matter, and the matter is touching on some senior government officials… So it is a total witch hunting of the people in government who feel they are untouchable,” said Ms. Wawira.
Jane Mugo has been a private investigator since 2010, undertaking various training, including a criminology course to better her knowledge. She says the warrant of arrest from people she has worked with is nothing less than a betrayal.
“How I wish that they called me to a police station and I refused to go, and they book me so that they can be able to say I am a criminal and that I have refused to come,” she said.
“The people who called me are 6 police officers who told me they are being threatened because of this case… if the government wants me, why do it on air… They only want three things, to spoil my name, want me to be viewed as a criminal and to intimidate me, because of the story that is going to air on in a certain media house.”
In 2015, Jane Mugo made a complaint against the provincial criminal investigations officer in Nairobi, over intimidation and harassment, a complaint that sailed through and had some of the allegations placed against her dropped.
For now, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNHCR) is investigating her case.
“We hope that once she is arrested the concerns she has raised will be taken care of. We expect that police will follow the law,” said Kamanda Mucheke, the head of the department of complaints and investigations at KNHCR.
For the mother of two, who fears for her life and that of her two sons, she remains adamant that there is no crime she has committed, but to the directorate of criminal investigations, Jane Mugo remains to be a wanted criminal, for various criminals like robbery with violence, impersonation and allegedly threatening to kill.
“I am not afraid….I want Kenyans to know where I committed the robbery where with what and where is the OB number,” adds Wawira.
