Kenya’s first female prisons boss Wanini Kireri laid to rest in Laikipia
Wanini Kireri, Kenya's first female Commandant
of Ruiru Prison Staff Training College, was on Thursday laid to rest at her
family home in Daiga village, Laikipia County.
Kireri's funeral follows a requiem mass held
in her honor on Wednesday at the Prisons Staff Training College in Ruiru.
Prison wardens clad in ceremonial wear
mounted a guard of honour for the deceased and also performed a 3-gun salute
when her coffin was lowered to the ground.
Kireri's funeral was attended by a number of
high ranking law enforcement officials key among them Interior Cabinet
Secretary Fred Matiang'i who read President Uhuru Kenyatta's condolences to
Kireri's family.
While noting that Kenya had lost a dedicated
public servant, Matiang'i revealed that President Kenyatta had directed that a
building at the Prisons Staff Training College be named after Kireri, whom he
remembered as a leader who transformed the Prisons department.
The Head of State mourned the late as a selfless,
dedicated patriot who not only left a physical mark but also an emotional mark
in every institution she passed through.
"At a time that prisons were viewed as
dens of death she turned around the perceptions by initiating programs for
inmates which gave the institutions a human image," read part of the President's
condolence message, in which he referred to the late Kireri as a trailblazer.
The Commander-in-Chief also hailed the late prison
commandant as a classical example of “what a man can do, a woman can do even
better,” further remembering her for introducing rehabilitation programs and
supporting inmates to produce books while incarcerated.
On his part, CS Matiang’i said that due to
Kireri's diligence, when he and his Principal Secretary presented names to the
President for appointment to the Prisons Staff Training College, the President
spotted her name and urged them to appoint her immediately.
Other senior government officials present at
the ceremony included Interior Chief Administrative Secretary Winnie Guchu, Correctional
Services Principal Secretary Safina Kwekwe and Commissioner General of Prisons
Brigadier (Rtd) John Kibaso Warioba who eulogised Kireri as a diligent officer.
Kireri passed away at age 60 on May 31, 2022
at a hospital in Nairobi where she was undergoing treatment following a short
illness. She left behind one child.
She was born in Kihome, Othaya, Nyeri County,
and joined the prisons service in 1982 as a cadet officer a year after
completing her O and A levels at Kenya High School. Her first posting was at
Lang’ata Women Prisons as a duty officer.
In 1986, she was promoted and transferred to
Embu Women Prisons as the officer in charge.
Later, in 1993, she was promoted to the rank
of Superintendent of Prisons and then transferred to the Prisons College as a
Senior Lecturer.
In 2017 she moved from the Nairobi Region to
Prisons Headquarters as the Director, Legal Section.
She had served as the Commandant of the Ruiru
Prisons Staff Training College since 2018.
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