Wycliffe Ogallo: What arrest? Police say it was a smooth handover

The National Police Service has denied that Wycliffe Ogallo has been arrested.

Earlier today, officers from the Anti-Terror Police Unit were caught on video escorting Ogallo from Magereza House shortly after he had been fired.

Ogallo has been replaced by retired Brigadier John Warioba who was sworn in immediately.

Brigadier (Rtd) John Warioba takes the oath of office as the Commissioner-General of the Kenya Prisons Service at State House, Nairobi, on November 17, 2021. [PSCU, Standard]

But the police service now says the reports of the arrest appearing in mainstream and social media that the former Kenya Prisons Service’s Commissioner-General was arrested, "is not accurate as stated".

The post on the police service's Facebook page and Twitter handle said that the police were only facilitating a "smooth and seamless handover of office and escorted the former Commissioner General to his home".

Ogallo was fired after three convicted terrorists escaped from Kamiti Maximum GK Prison on Monday.

The National Police Service has denied that Wycliffe Ogallo has been arrested. [Jenipher Wachie, Standard]

Ogallo's sacking happened after the president was briefed by a team from the Interior ministry on the security breaches at the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison that led to the escape of three convicts.

A statement from State House noted that compelling public interest and the need to entrench accountability in the ranks of the leadership of all security organs occasioned the decision.

Uhuru directed Interior CS Fred Matiang'i to take all necessary action to pursue the Kamiti escapees.

The video below shows the arrest outside Magereza House in Nairobi earlier today.

The State Department of Correctional Services has been directed to sanction disciplinary action against all KPS personnel who were on duty when the security breaches occurred.

Terror suspects Joseph Juma Odhiambo, Mohamed Abdi Ali Abikar and Musharaf Abdalla Alias Shukri vanished from Kamiti Maximum Security on November 15 in what Ogallo could only describe as an “unfortunate incident".