Interior Cabinet Secretary, Fred Matiang'i, made an impromptu visit to Kamiti Maximum Prison on Monday night, November 15, and ordered the immediate arrest of seven wardens following the escape of three terrorism convicts.
The CS, who was accompanied by a senior security team, argued that Kamiti was the most secure maximum prison in the country, terming the escape of the convicts as having been abetted by laxity and incompetence of the wardens.
He vowed more arrests and prosecutions would follow after the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) moved in to investigate the prison break.
“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," he added.
DCI offered a Ksh60 million cash reward for information that will lead to the arrest of the three terrorism convicts who broke out of the prison at 1am.
Some of the leaders who accompanied Matiang'i included Principal Secretaries Karaja Kibicho (Interior) and Zeynab Mohammed (Correctional Services), Inspector General of Police, Hilary Mutyambai, DCI boss, George Kinoti, and Commissioner General of Prisons, Wycliffe Ogallo.
They extensively toured the prison including Block A6 where the trio had been held. Preliminary investigations did not appear to support the official version of the 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.”
The CS vowed the government would protect whistle-blowers who will volunteer information that could lead to the rearresting of the prisoners.
"We are all mobilized and we have sent messages across the country and all exit and possible movement points 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."
Matiang'i urged Kenyans not to panic over the latest mysterious escape of dangerous prisoners.
He concluded by saying that security teams were on high alert and had managed to pre-empt many of the planned terror attacks.
