New prisons boss takes over office, transfers senior officers

Brigadier (Rtd) John Kibaso Warioba who has been appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta to replace Wycliffe Ogallo, as the new Commissioner General of Prisons at the Prison Headquarters, Nairobi on Wednesday, November 17, 2021 [Jenipher Wachie, Standard]

Five senior prison officers have been transferred as detectives continue probing the recent escape of three terror convicts from Kamiti Maximum Prison.

Two directors are the first high-profile officers to be moved at prisons headquarters, Magereza House, by new boss Brigadier (rtd) John Kibaso Warioba.

They are Nicholas Maswai who until the redeployment, was director of logistics, and Patrick Arandu, director, legal and human rights. Maswai and Arandu have respectively been appointed Eastern and Central regional commanders.

James Too, the immediate former Central regional commander, is the new director of logistics while Dickson Mwakazi heads to the legal and human rights directorate from Eastern, where he was the commander.

The changes affecting the four assistant commissioner-general of prisons were announced by Warioba on Friday. The officers are expected to report to their new stations by today.

Assistant Commissioner of Prisons (ACP) Josephine Wanza Mwengei has been moved to Prisons Staff Training College (PSTC) from Kamiti main.

According to sources, more changes are expected as Warioba moves to assert his authority after taking over from Wycliffe Ogallo, who was sacked following the escape of Musharaf Abdalla, Mohamed Abdi Abikar and Joseph Juma Odhiambo last week. The three prisoners were later arrested in Endau village, Kitui County and flown back to Kamiti, where they are being grilled by a team of detectives.

Meanwhile, National Police Service (NPS) has indicated that the identity of recipients of the cash reward promised for the capture of Abdalla, Abikar and Odhiambo will not be made public due to safety reasons.

Authorities placed a Sh20 million bounty on the head of each of the three convicts.

While reassuring that the Sh60 million reward will be honoured, NPS Spokesman Bruno Shiosho insisted a verification exercise must be carried out first.

The police spokesman said the security nature of the incident may require non-disclosure of eventual beneficiaries of the cash reward.