Athman Amran
26 April 2008
Nairobi — In the order of police rankings, prison warders, now on strike over a Sh5,000 monthly risk allowance, have been viewed as the underdogs.
This is in comparison to Administration and regular police officers, who are expected to get the allowance from this month.
The payment will be backdated to January for the more than 60,000 officers.
The warders now want the Commissioner of Prisons, Mr Gilbert Omondi, to resign. They have also threatened to release prisoners if their demands are not met.
Being under the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Office of the Vice-President, warders have not been treated as fairly as APs and regular police who are under the Office of the President.
The warders became agitated last Tuesday when Omondi said they would not benefit from a Sh5,000 monthly risk allowance. The prisons boss said the department did not fall under the Office of the President, which negotiated for the benefits with Treasury.
An assurance by Omondi that talks with the Ministry of Home Affairs were ongoing has not helped.
The ministry has instead been seen to be more concerned with the welfare of prisoners than of prison warders.
The prison officers argue that their job entails guarding all manner of prisoners, some of whom are dangerous criminals.
"We are like police officers and our work is just as risky. When they arrest a dangerous criminal and take him to court, the suspect is handed over to us," a warder told The Saturday Standard.
The warders argue that they face risks while guarding prisoners as some attack them while trying to escape.
They cited a December 20 incident last year at Meru Prison, when over 200 remandees pelted three warders with stones. The remandees were allegedly attempting to escape.
In the same month, 11 prison warders were arrested for allegedly aiding the escape of eight death row prisoners from Naivasha Prison.
The relationship between prison warders and their boss has not been good since he took over from Mr Abraham Kamakil.
Despite an assurance by the Deputy Commissioner of Prisons, Mr John Odongo, on February 26, that the warders, too, were entitled to risk allowance, this has not come to pass.
The Home Affairs ministry has increasingly focused on prisoners, and a few years back came up with the Governance, Justice, Law and Order Sector Reform (GJLOS) programme.
GJLOS is geared towards ensuring dignified living conditions for prisoners.
The reform initiatives, which were spearheaded by former Vice-President Moody Awori, have been aimed at "restitution of the dignity of human life to acceptable levels".
While the programme is addressing congestion in the country's prisons, two to three warders share a single dilapidated cubicle partitioned with a curtain.
GJLOS is expected to benefit warders through "retraining" them in areas such as human rights.
Focus on the welfare of prison warders has been rare. However, the reform programme promises to improve terms of service for prison staff so there is less corruption.
Last October 9, 96 warders at Nairobi West Prison benefited from new housing. The units were two-bedroom, complete with living rooms, kitchens and toilets.
The department became autonomous after the creation of the Kenya Prisons Service on March 11, 1911.
The control of prisons was vested in the Prisons Board then, which was answerable to the Inspector General of Police.
According to the Prisons Department, there are 17,943 authorised uniformed posts and 661 civilian posts.
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