Letlhakane — The determination to transform to a model institution of correctional excellence by Botswana Prison Service through the alignment of its business processes to national priorities deserves recognition.
President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi said this on Friday during his visit to Letlhakane Prison farm.
He said that was demonstrated by the implementation of the commissioner's roadmap of creating a high performance culture to ensure improved service delivery in the prison service.
Dr Masisi said the institution had successful initiatives such as the development and implementation of the prison food strategy, through which the desire was to provide prisoners with skills across the agricultural sector. The strategy, he said, would drive cost recovery initiatives and also contribute to the national food basket.
Food security strategy also provided opportunities for inmates to venture into modern agriculture, with great emphasis on the use of modern farm technology and appropriate animal husbandry practices, he said.
He urged the commissioner and her team to keep on devising innovative ideas and continue with diligent work towards cost containment.
"I am reliably informed that the prison service is now self-sufficient in vegetable production and is moving towards meeting the demand for chicken within prisons. You should now meet demand in fruit and pork production," he said.
Dr Masisi stated that it was government's commitment to achieve food security, improve nutrition and create employment opportunities for Batswana.
"I am appreciative of the milestones that the service has been able to achieve in support of government's initiatives," he emphasised.
Dr Masisi noted that the launch of offender reintegration and rehabilitation strategy in recent years, the gender based violence (GBV)-perpetrator's voice programme as well as the implementation of the offender reintegration programme were doing well and were embraced by stakeholders in realisation of their mandate.
Prison service, he said, had also grown immensely in its security operations, such as emergency response teams, prison police and prison intelligence.
"You should be proud and strive to do even more as you handle the threefold reality of your mandate," he said.
He urged prison officials to keep on intensifying character moulding programmes, particularly those addressing GBV, anger management, positive parenting and peace education amongst others.
President Masisi reiterated that GBV perpetrated by males against females and children, was an abhorrent behavioural trend that should be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
Given the spike in the incidents of inhumane acts of violence across the board, he said it was therefore fitting that the programmes should not only be administered to prisoners but officers as well.
"We have seen in recent times, members of the disciplined forces involved in these kind of issues, which is quite disappointing because you are the ones who are supposed to be protecting the nation," he said.
The President said government anticipated that the envisaged Lobatse Rehabilitation Centre project, which would be delivered through a Private Public Partnership model, would enable the organisation to provide effective rehabilitation programmes.
These would lead to successful reintegration of prisoners back into society, adding that the facility would complement existing government facilities in addressing mental health challenges.
He said as way of bringing services closer to the people and taking into account the ever changing complex crime landscape, the intention was to upgrade Letlhakane prison to medium security for purposes of utilising its strategic location to service Boteti region.
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The expansion of the facility, the President said, would be included in the National Development Plan 12 and would create opportunities for prisoners to use their skills productively for self-reliance, job creation, value addition to their communities as they re-integrate into society.
Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Defence and Security, State President Minister, Mr Kabo Morwaeng assured President Masisi that prison service would work hard to ensure increased production in all their farms to feed prisoners and the nation at large.
He said the President's visit gave them an opportunity to gain valuable knowledge, share experiences and challenges as a service in order to move forward.
Minister Morwaeng said they were all aware that the country was shifting towards increasing agricultural produce to be self-sufficient and reduce the import bill.
BOPA
