Gaps and lapses in the security sector expose policy weak link under Matiang’i’s leadership

A string of security lapses through act of commission or omission coupled by rampant cases of professional negligence and involvement in the security sector has been attributed to lack of hands-on policy and administrative guidance with the latest case being the daring jail break of three terrorists serving sentences at Kamiti Maximum Prison before they were captured being the latest case in point

This has brought to light the laxity and incompetence in the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government led by Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i under critical portfolios fall under.

Among them include; National Police Service (NPS) State Department of Correction Services (Prisons), Department of Immigration and Registration of Persons Services,

Taking a strict view of the inconsistencies following the reported jail break by three terror convicts who escaped from the country’s most guarded prison.

According to the police, three escapees; Musharraf Abdalla Akhulunga also known as Zarkarawi, Mohammed Ali Abikar and Joseph Juma Odhiambo alias Yusuf escaped on Monday at around 10am by drilling a hole through the wall.

Matiang’i is on record saying the escape was as a result of abetted breach.

However, it is not clear how terrorists suspects convicted on one of the serious crimes and existential threat terrorism poses world over were locked in one cell which could harbor fertile grounds for them to plan similar crimes.

According to a cellmate who was left behind, the three fugitives broke out of the prison at around 1am on Sunday but the wardens only learnt of the escape on Monday.

They created lumps under their blankets that duped prison guards into thinking that they were in there, asleep.

It is believed that the convicts set up their escape route during routine maintenance work carried out in the cell block they were being held in. The three men climbed out of a hole in the wall.

This raises questions on how the three convicts managed to do all that without the knowledge of some prison wardens.

The facility has closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance but nobody saw the three trying to escape but the police however, claimed that the cameras that cover the alleged escape route were malfunctioned.

The three are said to have been in the same cell with convicted convict Elgiva Bwire.

Bwire had been released on October 28 from Kamiti Maximum prison after serving a ten-year prison term since 2011.

The self-confessed al Shaabab member, Bwire, alongside his lawyer Hassan Nandwa and his mother were taken by unknown persons and is said to have gone underground.

“He vowed to carry out retaliatory attacks in the country against civilians and security personnel …and is believed to be planning said attacks,” The Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti said through a red alert public notice.

According to an internal report, four officers had been eployed to guard the block at the time.

Already, seven wardens are in police custody and Wycliffe Ogallo fired as the head of Kenya Prisons.

Charles Mutembei, the commandant at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison was also arraigned over the disappearance of the three convicts.

Last month, the media was awash with frightening news of how a self-confessed child killer Masten Wanjala escaped from police custody.

Wanjala who was later lynched by an angry mob in Kabuchai Bungoma County mid last month, allegedly escaped from Jogoo Road police station Nairobi in rather unclear circumstances.

He was accused of killing at least 10 children between the year 2019 and 2021 according to police records and was expected to be prosecuted at the Makadara law courts on 13th October 2021 but that never came to pass.

To salvage the situation which was painting a bad picture to the police unit, Nairobi Regional Police commander Augustine Nthumbi came out to assure the public that everything was under control as they had already launched a countrywide search for Wanjala and even revealed that the officers who were on duty at the station had been arrested.

“Those officers who were on duty the day Wanjala escaped will be arrested and charged in court. They need to tell us how he escaped without their knowledge,” Nthumbii said.

In September this year, the country was taken into deep shock over the murder of the Kianjakoma brothers who died in police custody in Meru.

Benson Njiru and his twin brother Emmanuel Mutura died after being arrested during curfew hours but ended up dying on their way to the police station.

Due to public protests all over the country, the government saw to it that the affected officers during their arrest and death were arrested and are still facing charges of murder.

Inspector-General of Police Hillary Mutyambai transferred all the officers stationed at Kianjakoma Police Station following the death of the two brothers.

According to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, they have recommended the prosecution of 30 police officers since August this year.

In November alone, the authority has successfully sustained the conviction of four police officers.

Some of those officers are to answer charges of causing disappearances, defilement and murder of different people within the country.