On Thursday, November 18, three convicted terrorists who escaped from the Kamiti Maximum Prison were recaptured in Kitui after residents tipped of police.
Among them was 30-year-old father of two, Joseph Odhiambo, who also went by 'Yusuf'. The three were air-lifted back to Kamiti under tight security. However, damage had already been done and their escape revealed holes in the security system that led to the dismissal and arrest of high ranking prison officials.
Speaking to media on Saturday, November 20, his mother, Martha Odhiambo, revealed that Yusuf's link to terrorism began when he secured him a job as a watchman in Mugoya Estate, South C, in Nairobi.
She stated that she had asked her boss to give him a job, which would earn him more than the business he had as a scrap metal dealer in Kakamega.
"I asked my boss whether he had any vacancy and he told me to bring him. I knew that he would earn better pay than he did, " she stated.
However, Odhiambo left his job as a watchman after landing another job within the Central Business District. It was at his new job that he changed his religion, converting to Islam.
Yusuf approached his mother and told her that he wanted to go to Mombasa. When she sought reasons for the move, he told her that he was going to further his religious studies. According to the woman, this was was the beginning of his son's radicalization journey.
"I told him, don't go, don't go. I did not bring you to Nairobi only for you to leave. I told him that he would rather go back to Kakamega," she stated.
Nonetheless, he proceeded to the coastal city. Later that year, he was arrested in the company of two in Garissa and was jailed for six months, which he served.
Odhiambo was arrested again and jailed for 15 years for attempting to cross into Somalia to join a radicalization group. He began serving his term and according to his mother, he was to appeal his sentence on November 8.
His mother asked for the country to forgive him even as his father demanded that he be punished severely by the state.
