The puzzle of Jowie’s Instagram post

Instagram users are scratching their heads, trying to fathom how murder suspect Joseph Irungu, alias Jowie, is active on the picture-and-video-sharing platform while in prison. Inmates in Kenyan prisons are not allowed to possess or use mobile phones. 

Chapter Four, Part Two, Section 51 of the Kenyan Constitution on rights and fundamental freedoms, says an inmate could be deprived of certain privileges, which include the use of communication gadgets while in lawful detention.

“A person who is detained, held in custody or imprisoned under the law, retains all the rights and fundamental freedoms in the Bill of Rights, except to the extent that any particular right or a fundamental freedom is clearly incompatible with the fact that the person is detained, held in custody or imprisoned,” says the law.

And, on Friday, Jowie posted a picture of himself in the company of a youthful woman. The two, in the picture, are seen wearing radiant smiles. Jowie used a smiling face emoji as the picture’s caption.

The photograph attracted hundreds of comments, with users wondering how Jowie managed to access a phone or a computer to update his social media page.

The updated timeline also showed that he had deleted all the pictures he took with his former fiancée, Jacque Maribe, leaving only 22 photos on his page.

Prior to the November 29, 2019 photo, the last picture Jowie posted on the platform was a poster that said he would be the guest on Hot 96FM mid-morning show, Rhythm Junction, hosted by Willis Raburu and Lulu Saidi on September 11, 2018.

It remains unclear how Jowie posted the image to his Instagram page. However, speculations are rife that he could be having a relative, friend or any other person who manages his social media pages.

This comes just a day after High Court judge James Wakiaga set February 13, 2020 as the date when Jowie, the key suspect in Monica Kimani murder case, will know whether he will be released on bail, or not.

Opposed to Jowie’s release, the prosecution told the judge that they fear the suspect will abscond court sessions.

Appearing in court last week, Jowie personally pleaded with the judge, saying he was “suffering” in prison.

Jowie also told the judge that he failed to understand why he was being kept behind bars, yet he had already surrendered his travel documents, including his passport, to the court.

“The second accused [Jacque Maribe] is out on bond, yet I am still detained. I am not a flight risk; I surrendered my passport to the court, and I have no business traveling out of Kenya,” he said.

In an interview with the Daily Nation last week, Jowie said he was locked up in an isolated room, which harboured a lot of mosquitoes at night.

The suspect’s lawyer, Hassan Nandwa, on Thursday, November 28, told Justice Wakiaga that Jowie will live with his parents in Nakuru, and, therefore, “the court should not worry that tracking him down will be difficult”.

“I plead with the court to release my client so that he can go look after his parents’ poultry in Nakuru,” said Nandwa.

The judge said he will rule on Jowie’s bail application on February 13, 2020.

Jowie is the chief suspect in the murder of Monica Kimani, who was found dead in her apartment in Kilimani on September 21, 2018.