President Uhuru Kenyatta has appointed Brigadier (Rtd) John Kibaso Warioba as the new Commissioner General of the Kenya Prisons Service.
The appointment followed the dismissal of Mr Wycliffe Ogalo just hours earlier.
According to a press release by State House Spokesperson Kanze Dena-Mararo, the decision was made during a high-profile meeting with security bosses on Wednesday morning.
"The appointment follows the briefing to the Head of State from the Ministry responsible for Correctional Services regarding the security breaches at the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison that led to the escape of three inmates.
"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," the statement read in part.
Kamiti Prison Escape
Three terror suspects - Musharaf Abdalla, Mohamed Ali Abikar and Joseph Juma Odhiambo - escaped from Kamiti Maximum Security Prison on November 15, 2021 at around 1:00 a.m.
Notifying the public on the breach, DCI offered a reward of Sh60 Million to anyone with information that may lead to the arrest of the three.
In statement, Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang'i, attributed the prison break to laxity and incompetence from those on duty.
"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.
"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 stated.
Seven prison warders were arrested following the incident and later the immediate former Prisons boss, Wycliffe Ogola and two others were taken in for questioning.