Police arrest prisons boss Ogallo, Kamiti head after jailbreak
Outgoing Kenya Prison Service Commissioner-General Wycliffe Ogallo (left) and Kamiti Prison boss Charles Mutembei. They were arrested following a jailbreak that saw three terror convicts escape from the maximum prison.
Officers from the Anti-terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) have on Wednesday arrested outgoing prisons boss Wycliffe Ogallo, Kamiti Maximum Prison head Charles Mutembei and his deputy.
Kenya Prison Service Commissioner-General Wycliffe Ogallo (in glasses) during his arrest at Magereza House on November 17, 2021.
Kamiti Maximum Prison head Charles Mutembei during his arrest at Magereza House on November 17, 2021.
The arrests come just hours after President Kenyatta sacked Ogallo and replaced him with Brigadier (Rtd) John Warioba, and just two days after the Kamiti jailbreak that saw three terror convicts escape.
Ogallo, Mutembei and his deputy were taken to DCI offices after the arrest.
The new prisons boss, Warioba, declined to comment on the arrests, saying it was too early as he has just been appointed.
Hours after the arrest, the National Police Service tweeted that Ogallo was not arrested, but only escorted home from his office.
However, his dramatic seizure at Magereza House, along with that of Mutembei and his deputy, was witnessed by journalists and captured on film.
When he attempted to sit at the front of the vehicle, the officers blocked him from doing so and sandwiched him in the back seat before speeding off.
NPS did not clarify why Ogallo was escorted by a heavy security team comprising ATPU officers.
Before announcing his sacking, President Kenyatta on Wednesday held a crisis meeting at State House with top Interior ministry officials and Prisons chiefs over the jailbreak.
