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.