NAIROBI, Kenya Nov 17 – Kenya’s head of prisons Wycliffe Ogallo was sacked and arrested immediately Wednesday following the escape of three dangerous terrorists from Kamiti Maximum Prison.
Also arrested is the Commandant of Kamiti Prison Charles Mutembei and his deputy, police said.
“They are in our custody to help in the investigations because they are in charge of prisoners,” said George Kinoti, the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said before Ogallo was freed.
His lawyer Assa Nyakundi said detectives did not inform Ogallo why he was arrested.
“I can authoritatively confirm that Ogallo was arrested after handing over office and he was taken to DCI headquarters,” Nyakundi told Capital FM News on telephone, “but he was not told why he was arrested.”
Nyakundi said Ogallo was later freed. “He has been freed and told that they will call him when they need him. We do not know why he was arrested up to now.”
Ogallo was dramatically arrested by officers from the DCI before media cameras but Inspector General of Police Hilary Mutyambai later put up a statement saying he was not arrested, and that, “he was just being escorted home.”
The statement from police headquarters was contradictory to the dramatic arrest witnessed by the media at the prisons headquarters on Wednesday afternoon.
Ogallo was fired by President Uhuru Kenyatta and replaced by Brigadier (Rtd) John Kibaso Warioba in changes announced by State House, two days after the shocking jailbreak that sent panic across the country.
“The appointment follows the briefing to the Head of State from the Ministry responsible for Correctional Services regarding the security breaches at the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison that led to the escape of three inmates,” State House Spokesperson Kanze Dena said in a statement.
No explanation has been offered into how Mohamed Ali Abikar, Joseph Juma Odhiambo and Musharaf Abdalla Akhulunga managed to escape the heavily-guarded facility on Monday.
All three were charged and convicted of terrorism-related offenses and one, Abikar, was serving 41 for involvement in an attack that left 148 people dead.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi Fred Matiangi said Tuesday that preliminary investigations were still underway but that seven wardens at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison had been arrested in connection with the jailbreak on the outskirts of Nairobi.
Matiangi said exit points along the country’s border had been placed on high alert with fears the trio could try to slip out of Kenya undetected.
“We are going to conduct a massive manhunt for these three. They are dangerous criminals and we have to get them. And we are going to get them,” Matiangi said late Monday after visiting Kamiti with the country’s top law enforcement officials.
