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Kenya: Warders' Strike is a Sign of Pent-Up Frustration
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The Nation (Nairobi)
EDITORIAL
27 April 2008
Posted to the web 28 April 2008
Nairobi
The strike by prison warders highlights a unique example of incompetence and neglect in the management of public affairs.
What is really a mutiny in many of Kenya's jails 96 jails is clearly illegal under the provisions of Section 63 of the Prisons Act, which criminalises acts which lead to disobedience of orders. But it is easy for Kenyans to see why prison warders might feel that they have been driven to a point where they don't care about the consequences of their actions.
The whole very dangerous turn of events is an explosion arising from neglect and grievances that have been allowed to fester over most of the prison service's 87 years of existence.
The strike is also symptomatic of the failure of much-touted prison reforms to provide concrete improvement in the welfare and working conditions of prison staff and inmates.
FROM THE WARDERS' COMPLAINTS it would appear that the reforms have been mainly in the area of PR and presentation - beauty contests and spanking new uniforms for inmates as well as TVs and other amenities - but beneath the glitz, the rot is as deep as it has ever been.
What possible explanation can there be for the fact that prison warders have not been provided with uniforms for 15 years, as they claim? Under what circumstances were warders required to buy their own uniforms? Will they next be required to buy their own guns? What are these salary deductions that are being complained of and where is that money? Is it the job of warders to build schools for their children?
The confident attitude struck by prisons commandant Gilbert Omondi on Friday that the strike was the work of "a few authors of untoward events" and that the department is fully in charge of the situation, is most surprising.
Prison warders are armed. They are in charge of 49,000 inmates, some of them very dangerous individuals. Their work is difficult and dangerous. Their terms of service - particularly in terms of salaries - are a national scandal, their living conditions, especially what the authorities refer to houses, are a continental scandal.
How a nation can allow people who serve it in such an important capacity to live in polythene-sheet shanties and mud hovels, or in open halls initially intended for prisoners, is beyond the comprehension of many right-thinking Kenyans.
The warders and their officers have also demonstrated a singular incapacity to take charge of their own affairs and to make use of the resources at their disposal to improve their own lot.
The prisons department has many resources, including huge productive farms. They have wood, they have the best carpenters in the country, they have the largest pool of free labour of any department in the land and they have income from other industrial and farming activities.
Why are these rich institutions unable to construct simple but decent housing for their staff? Why must they wait for the decision to be made in Nairobi to build housing?
The critical thing at this moment is not just to clobber the warders back to work but to undertake real and genuine reforms of the prisons service from top to bottom.
It must begin with the warders immediately being paid the Sh10,000 risk allowance which they earned maintaining law and order during the post-election chaos.
Secondly, a thorough investigation by a taskforce comprising representatives from the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, the Auditor-General and the Criminal Investigations Department must immediately be launched into the entire prison system. There must be a vote for uniforms and other necessary items in the budget every year. Kenyans must know how that money is spent, or if there is no vote, why there is isn't. It needs to be established how much money the prisons generate from their various activities and how that money has been spent.
THIRDLY, THE ENTIRE PRISONS service needs to be re-thought afresh. The government should consider granting prisons greater autonomy and more responsibility over the welfare of staff. Each jail should be accountable for its subvention from the state and its own budget, which should also be funded from its own income-generating activities.
Fourth, the inspection of prisons should be tightened. In that respect, there should be an office of the inspector of prisons charged with periodically inspecting jails and reporting to Parliament and the government on the conditions of incarceration and the welfare of prison staff.
Fifth, the human resource capacity of the prisons department to manage itself and to manage the rehabilitation of offenders must be audited and corrective action taken where appropriate.
Finally, it is a fact that Kenya's jails are overcrowded beyond belief. Who then are we waiting for to come and build more jails for us? The ministry of Home Affairs must budget for more jails and an allocation be made.
The government must not wait until the warders turn their guns on society or take the unprecedented step of letting loose dangerous criminals before taking decisive action.
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It must acknowledge that it has allowed the penal system to be managed incompetently for far too long and immediately embark on reforms.
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