Jeff Otieno And David Mugonyi
17 July 2008
Nairobi — A 14-member committee appointed to investigate the prison crisis came face to face with the rot in nearly all the correctional facilities visited.
The team came across undisciplined officers, who they described as a threat to national security.
Committee members led by former Mwatate MP Major (Rtd) Marsden Madoka in a report obtained by the Nation observed drunken prison officers on duty in Nairobi Remand Home, Meru, Nakuru, Kisii, Kodiaga and Bungoma prisons.
Rolled bhang
"Smoking of rolled bhang substances by prisoners was witnessed in Maranjau and Embu prisons," the document adds. The Madoka team was appointed by Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka in May, after the warders went on strike complaining of a myriad of problems.
Peddling of drugs, alcohol, mobile phones and other unauthorised goods within the prison was also noted. As a result, the committee also says prison officers violated professional ethics as provided for under the Public Officers Ethics Act (section 9).
"Prisons officers were in many instances observed to be slovenly, unkempt and untidy in spite of the fact that they were informed that the committee investigating the crisis was visiting the station," it adds.
Serious lapse
Other prisons mentioned are Naivasha, Machakos, Mwea, Garissa, Isiolo, Eldoret, Kitale, Nyeri and Kericho.
The Madoka team also complains of lack of cooperation from the prisons officers to attend the committee's meetings, "and in many instances, we had to hold separate meetings for junior and senior officers".
Another case of serious lapse of indiscipline, cited by the committee is allowing prisoners to have cell phones. "Prisoners are, therefore, able to continue coordinating the commission of crime while still in prison, supposedly undergoing correctional rehabilitation," the report adds.
The committee also talked to members of the public who complained of threats, coercion and blackmail by inmates serving various sentences - a pointer that there was collusion between prisoners and warders.
It is not only prisoners who are mistreated, according to the report. Junior prisons officers are also misused to do unofficial activities such as herding animals belonging to their bosses on prisons farms. Senior prisons officers also use the department's vehicles, fuel, stones and sand to construct personal property.
"The Committee observed that the level of abuse of public resources in prisons was extensive and unchecked," the report says.
Concern about the "closeness" between junior and senior officers has also been raised. This is due to the fact that residential accommodations for junior and senior staff are within the same compound, "creating too much familiarity and social interaction between junior and senior officers, which breeds contempt".
Another discovery was that in many instances, officers in charge or their spouses, were the ones supplying food, materials and services to the prisons.
"This is a direct conflict of interest, which goes against existing regulations and policies," the report adds.
The Madoka committee dismisses a report showing that the prisons department was not well funded, compared to other disciplined forces.
New uniforms
The report from the prisons department showed that while funding for Kenya Police for specialised materials and supplies for 2007/08 was Sh200 million the Prison Service was only allocated Sh21 million.
However, the Madoka team disputed the figures saying the actual allocation for specialised materials and supplies for the prisons in 2007/08 was Sh1 billion and not Sh21 million as claimed by the latter.
The prison department says it has been receiving only Sh500 million a year for food while it needed Sh900 million - a shortfall of Sh400 million. But in reply the Madoka team says the revised estimates for the last financial year, addressed the problem "by allocating additional funding of Sh200 million".
This additional funding for food and rations was also included in the current financial year, the committee report adds.
However, the statement on increased funding was dismissed on Wednesday as untrue by prisons officers who did not want to be named. "Houses for warders like us are inadequate, we need new uniforms. There is also need to construct more prisons as congestion has become a major problem," an officer told the Nation.
To show that the department lacks funding, the Commissioner of Prisons, Mr Gilbert Omondi tabled a report to the Madoka committee which stated that the department currently needs 100,000 blankets, 20,000 mattresses and 5,000 beds at a total cost of Sh99,700,000.
Lack of uniforms was cited as one of the major causes of low morale at the prisons department.
Allowances payable to senior officers are also inadequate and cannot secure new uniforms at the market prices. Currently, the allowance is paid to two categories of officers, namely, Gazetted and Chief Officers.
Despite the problems faced, the report argues that the Prisons Department has not been utilising its funds in a rational manner. "This is because they lack a sense of priority in their needs," the Madoka team says.
To address the above problem, the committee proposes that officers from finance department at the level of Principal Finance Officer be posted and the number of qualified staff at the accounts section be increased.
Despite its defence, the committee accuses the department of failing to implement some programmes despite the availability of funds under the Governance, Justice, Law and Order Sector (GJLOS) reform programme.
Others are a feasibility study to transform prisons' industries, establishment of a prison information data base and operationalisaton of a parole system.
The committee also accuses the department of failing to implement recommendations on prison decongestion worth an estimated Sh7 million develop a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system in all the 93 prison institutions.
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