Three top officials, including a Managing Director have been summoned by a Mombasa court for questioning over the handling of CCTV footage tied to the 2019 Likoni Ferry tragedy.
On Thursday, July 17, Mombasa Law Courts Chief Magistrate Alex Ithuku directed Kenya Ferry Services(KFS) boss, the Likoni Sub-county Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) head, and a senior investigating officer to appear in court on July 24, 2025.
The directive came amid mounting concerns over missing or incomplete video evidence which had the potential to shed more light on the 2019 incident which saw 35-year-old Mariam Kighenda and her 4-year-old daughter drown after their car plunged into the Indian Ocean.
At the time, rescuers took 13 days to retrieve the bodies of mother and daughter who were found in a tight embrace, in an incident which caused nationwide outrage.
Principal Prosecution Counsel Alex Ndiema asked the chief magistrate to compel the officials to explain the chain of custody for the CCTV footage.
This is amid allegations that the footage was handed to KFS management instead of being properly submitted as official evidence.
While the investigating officer presented a short clip showing the vehicle slipping into the Indian Ocean during the hearing, the video was ruled incomplete since it failed to show the whole events which led to the plunge.
Due to the gap in evidence, the judge expressed concern about the legality and thoroughness of the investigation. Further, the court noted that the original, unedited footage was never availed, raising suspicion about how the case was being handled.
The court also heard that a former lead investigator in the case bypassed formal protocols by turning over the raw footage believed to contain the whole sequence of events, to KFS management.
According to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), the missing footage is now being considered a key piece of evidence in determining whether the tragedy was as a result of negligence or lapses in procedure.
In the years since the tragedy, fresh evidence has emerged, with two officials from the KFS admitting in 2022 that the ferry that claimed the lives of Kaghenda and her daughter was faulty.
An engineer with KFS told Mombasa Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku in 2022 that all blame fell on the faulty prow that failed to provide sufficient buoyancy for the ferry.
