THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS OPENS A PRISON MANAGEMENT MEETING IN SALIMA

Salima : 19 February 2006

By Staff Reporter

The Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security, Honourable Anna Kachikho MP opened a two-day Malawi Prisons National Management meeting, which took place at Kambiri Lodge in Salima on the 17th of February 2006.

In her speech, the Minister informed the delegates on the importance of holding management meeting.

“Management meetings are very crucial for efficient and effective service delivery, because they provide a forum for easy communication of policy direction; and when people are together, they learn a lot from each other,” the minister said.

She encouraged the Prison Managers to do away with Management of threat and intimidation, which she said was a thing of past, but rather practice management of inclusion for forging ahead.

On infrastructure development, the Minister asked the Prison Management to make proper and coherent proposals for infrastructure development, especially in areas of refurbishing prison buildings, which were in stale condition, contributing to the spates of escapes; construction of new building structures and irrigation. She then asked the Prison Authorities to hasten completion of Mzimba Prison Project, which would help to solve congestion problem at Mzuzu and other prison stations.

On good governance, the Minister urged the Prison Management to ensure that the rule of law is observed in the execution of their duties and to make sure that human rights of prisoners are upheld.

She further warned the Prison Officers on Corruption. “I know you prison officers have a special word for Corruption, you call it Trafficking. Whatever you call it, you must resist from corrupt activities; and report any corrupt practices to the relevant authorities otherwise you will face the consequences”

Speaking earlier, the Chief Commissioner of Prisons, Mr Macdonald Chaona, among other things, updated the Minister on some of the problems affecting the Prisons Department, which included poor infrastructure, shortage of staff and delays in recruitment of staff and drought.

“On top of this, the space of our prisons was basically meant for 4,500 prisoners. As you may be aware, now we are housing about 10,000 prisoners within the same space, resulting in congestion. Congestion creates a lot of negative effects like encouraging spread of contagious diseases,” the Chief Commissioner said.

During the meeting, a number of issues like work ethics, prison budget, and the draft Malawi Prison Policy were discussed.

This was the first prison management meeting to be attended by a minister, which saw all the officers in-charge from all prison stations, regional prison officers and heads of sections at the national prison headquarters in attendance.