The former Commissioner-General of Prisons Wycliffe Ogalo was arrested moments after President Uhuru Kenyatta announced his sacking.
Ogalo and two other top officers at Kamiti prisons were arrested from the Magereza building Wednesday and taken DCI for grilling.
He alongside the Commandant of Kamiti Prisons Charles Mutembei and his deputy were being grilled at DCI headquarters over the escape.
The move came after the president met with top officials at the Interior Ministry led by CS Fred Matiangi over the issue.
It was revealed the escape was abetted.
Ogalo was bundled onto a waiting police car after he had held a meeting and driven off.
He was heard asking where he was being taken before being pushed into the car and the door banged.
However, the National Police Service in a statement later dismissed the arrest terming it as "inaccurate".
"The reporting appearing in mainstream and social media that the former Kenya Prisons Service’s Commissioner-General Mr Wycliffe Ogallo has been arrested by police is not accurate as stated," NPS tweeted.
"This is to clarify that police only facilitated a smooth and seamless handover of office."
His lawyer Assa Nyakundi later confirmed Ogalo was released unconditionally from the DCI Hqs.
Nyakundi said he was asked to leave without any explanation.
“He has been released unconditionally. He is now free but I don’t know about the others,” he said.
Ogalo’s exit will be a relief to some officials especially the current correctional services PS Zeynab Mohammed who was not on good terms with him.
Ogalo is a former long-serving provincial administrator and has been in the office for two years now.
He succeeded Isaya Osugo who is credited for a number of reforms at the agency.
Ogalo had been a marked man in the last two years while he was in office.
His lawyer Assa Nyakundi termed the arrest a bit drastic and unnecessary.
This follows a breach in security at the Kamiti Maximum Prison which led to the escape of three terror convicts.
Uhuru appointed and witnessed the swearing-in of Ogalo’s successor, Brigadier (Rtd) John Kibaso Warioba.
According to a statement from State House to newsrooms, the Head of State made the decision on the back of a briefing from the ministry responsible for correctional services regarding the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison escape.
“The briefing noted the compelling public interest in the matter and the need to entrench accountability in the ranks of the leadership of all security organs; in honour of the many Kenyans who have lost their lives and the enormous sacrifices made by all Kenyans and particularly the security organs to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat terror networks,” read the statement.
Uhuru also directed Matiang’i to spare no resource in pursuing and capturing the Kamiti escapees.
He urged all State investigative agencies to bring every person found to have been involved in the prison break to full account.
The president further directed the State Department of Correctional Services to begin disciplinary action against all prisons staff who were on duty when the security breach occurred; this includes redeployment and/or immediate suspension of those found culpable.
“The Head of State and Government has urged all Kenyans to volunteer any information that will lead to the tracing and arrest of the three escapees. He also thanked all our security personnel for their tireless and heroic work in law enforcement and counterterrorism,” added the statement.
“The President further urged all Kenyans to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activities to our security agencies; as we all have a shared duty to defend and protect our freedoms and way of life that is at risk with the rising threats of terror within the region.”
Nine wardens at the Kamiti Maximum Prison are in police custody following the escape of the three convicts who were serving jail terms for terrorism-related crimes.
Musharraf Abdalla Akhulunga a.k.a Zarkarawi, Mohammed Ali Abikar and Joseph Juma Odhiambo a.k.a Yusuf escaped even as the DCI placed Sh60 million bounty on their recapture.
They removed a stone in their cell and left a physically challenged cellmate before escaping.
They then used ropes to climb out two walls and escaped.
Matiangi said preliminary investigations suggested the escape from arguably the most secured maximum prison facility in the country was abetted by laxity and incompetence and vowed more arrests and prosecutions will follow after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations moved in to investigate the prison break.
The CS who led a senior security team to Kamiti prison last evening further announced a massive manhunt involving specialized teams had been launched across the country on the convicts.
“We will not only go the direction investigations will point us but we will act resolutely to ensure this kind of recklessness does not happen again because it exposes our people. Definitely, there is a certain level of irresponsibility we have to deal with in this particular case.”
The CS revealed that their extensive tour of Kamiti including Block A 6 where the trio had been held did not appear to support the official version of escape given by the prisons’ managers.
“We have gone to the place where the escape allegedly happened, and we have formed certain opinions. We don’t want to discuss that because we don’t want to interfere with the work that the DCI is doing.”
He said the Government will protect whistle-blowers who will volunteer information that could lead to the rearresting of the prisoners who are described as dangerous with the manhunt teams especially paying attention to the country’s borders and exit points.
"We are all mobilized and we have sent messages across the country and all exit and possible movement point out of the country. We are going to conduct a massive manhunt for those three. They are dangerous criminals and we have to get them. And we are going to get them," he said.
The CS however urged Kenyans not to panic over the latest mysterious escape of dangerous prisoners saying security teams were on high alert and had managed to pre-empt many of the planned terror attacks.
Abikar was charged and convicted in 2019 over his links to Al-Shabaab and for abetting the Garissa University attack of April 2015 that left 148 people dead while Odhiambo was arrested in 2019 for trying to join the Somali terror group.
Akhulunga was arrested in 2012 over a foiled attack on Kenya’s parliament and charged with possessing explosives, ammunition and firearms.
Edited by D Tarus