Striking prison warders on Saturday scoffed at a threat by their commander to discipline them and instead demanded his sacking.

They issued a two-day ultimatum saying they will free criminals on Wednesday if their demands are not met. The warders asked the anti-corruption authorities to launch investigations into the Prisons Service, claiming unexplained deductions were being made from their salaries and that transfers and promotions were being corruptly granted.

On Saturday, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka cut short a visit to the Rift Valley and flew back to deal with the crisis. He said the Prisons Service was mismanaged and formed a committee to deal with the crisis. The committee is headed by former vice-president Moody Awori and includes Mr Abraham Kamakil, a former prisons commissioner.

Warders in many of Kenya's 93 prisons have disobeyed the orders of their superiors in open mutiny since Thursday to press for better pay and housing. On Thursday, Commissioner of Prisons Gilbert Omondi threatened disciplinary action against all officers who did not resume work. But in some prisons inmates were being fed and guarded despite the go-slow that continued for the third day on Saturday.

"We cannot be threatened by the commissioner who has failed in his duties of taking care of the prisons. How can we reform these people (inmates) when the commissioner has refused to reform our living conditions?" said a warder at Kibos GK Prison in western Kenya, who did not want to be identified for fear of being victimised.

The protest was sparked by the failure to pay warders a risk allowance of Sh10,000 which was paid to officers from the regular and administration police who took part in quelling the post-election violence. They also complain of appalling working conditions, saying many live in mud or polythene hovels or share open halls, among other bitter grievances.

At the top security prisons where the most dangerous criminals are held, warders said they were attending prisoners. At Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, the scene of some of the most angry protests in the week, as well as King'ong'o and Naivasha, warders said they were taking care of prisoners. Kamiti warders demanded the removal of the prisons boss and warned they would work over the weekend but will be back on strike on Sunday.

"We are feeding them (the prisoners). We are also guarding them in their cells but we will not take them out to work or even to court Monday until our demands are met," a warder at King'ong'o prison in Nyeri said by telephone.

The situation was unclear at Kodiaga Maximum Security Prison. The officer in charge Joshua Yuma said all was well and that warders were working.

"We have told the officers that the contentious issues are being resolved at the headquarters," he said. But junior officers, speaking to the Sunday Nation in confidence, said that they were all set for a full-blown strike on Monday.

"We have no one to organise cooking for the prisoners. The kitchen has been locked since morning. There is no warder to give out the keys. The store is also locked. The inmates are now yelling in their cells because they are hungry," a warder at Kodiaga told the Sunday Nation by telephone.

In other prisons - Kibos, Homa Bay, Migori, Kisii, Busia and Kakamega, all Western and Nyanza provinces - warders said they were not giving the inmates any food. Warders at Meru, Nanyuki and Kerugoya prisons on Saturday refused to admit remandees brought to the institutions by police officers.

But Central provincial prisons boss Ambrose Ngare was confident that the situation had calmed down. Mr Ngare said he had asked the warders to be patient as their grievances were being dealt with.

He said some of the warders' concerns were genuine, adding that the officers have in the past not been treated equally with their counterparts in the Kenya police, Administration Police and the General Service Unit.

"My colleagues feel short-changed because they have not benefited from any awards from which their counterparts have benefited," he said.

The threat to free hard-core criminals was contained in short text messages (SMS), which are said to have been sent to all warders, corporals, sergeants and the senior sergeants. These are the non-commissioned officers and are the ones on strike, the senior officers are working.

"Due to the on-going nationwide strike, we remind our colleagues that we shall begin by releasing all unconvicted (remand) prisoners followed by convicted ones on Tuesday," the SMS said.

Reacting to the threat, Legal Resource Foundation, a group that provides legal advice to remand prisoners, asked the government to urgently address the problems the officers are raising.

"The fact that the prison warders have gone on strike knowing fully well that they are in a sensitive sector where remandees and prisoners need to be watched 24 hours means the situation is very, very grave," the NGO's executive director Ms Jedidah Waruhiu said at a press conference at her office in Nairobi. The lobby asked the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate allegations of corruption saying prison officers have for long been accusing their seniors of swindling them.

The prison's boss Mr Gilbert Omondi had on Friday admitted that the warders are owed Sh10,000 and promised that the money would be paid through the Prisons Service sacco, Magereza. All the officers in other disciplined forces were paid the risk allowance in January. After failing to get their money the prison warders have been grumbling.

They are further demanding uniforms. Now they dress in tattered clothes of different hues and worn-out shoes. Medical and house allowances are also among their demands. They earn Sh495 as medical allowance but the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) deducts Sh320.

They say some money was deducted from their salaries between March and September last year, allegedly for the construction of school, Magereza Academy, for their children. They paid between Sh1,000 and Sh3,500 a month, depending on their ranks. Now that no construction seems to be taking place, they are demanding the money back. According to Mr Omondi, construction of the school will start soon.