Nairobi — More than 200,000 petty offenders have benefited from the community service order (CSO) programme, which aims at decongesting prisons.

CSO chairperson Jessie Lesiit yesterday said 247,896 offenders had given free service to both private and public institutions since 1999.

Free professional service

Said Lady Justice Lesiit: "The offenders have constructed roads, dug boreholes, planted trees and offered free professional service to the community, among others."

Addressing a CSO seminar at the Safari Park Hotel, she warned, however, that the five-year-old programme was facing serious challenges, from a negative public attitude through financial constraints to a shortage of probation officers.

She said the programme had exhausted its budget for the current year, forcing some of its activities to a standstill.

Lady Justice Lesiit said the negative attitude by magistrates and the public was a major hurdle in its implementation.

"Some magistrates and members of the public view CSO as too lenient on offenders and insist on custodial sentencing," she added.

To avert the problem, the official called for sensitising the public on the importance of CSO.

The programme, which became operational through the Community Service Order Act of 1998, aims at administering punishment other than imprisonment.

Vice-President Moody Awori said the prison reforms were in line with the international trend, shifting from custodial to non-custodial management of petty offenders.

He maintained that probation and community service orders remained the most preferred and most widely used forms of punishment.

"Mere imprisonment of offenders, particularly those guilty of petty offences, does not necessarily contribute to reducing or deterring crime, but can even create a fertile environment for increased crime," said the Vice-President.

Mr Awori said the Government would recruit 300 additional CSO officers and revise the scheme of service for probation officers.

Posed serious challenges

Chief Justice Evan Gicheru said the judicial officers who chaired CSO committees had identified projects for the relevant offenders.

In his speech - read by Lady Justice Lesiit - Mr Justice Gicheru said that, unlike the rural environment, the urban posed serious challenges in implementing the programme. He urged NGOs to help rehabilitate vulnerable offenders, mainly women and children.