Minister launches project to build prison staff houses
Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development Symon Vuwa-Kaunda says prison warders deserve decent houses.
The minister said this at Malawi Prison Services (MPS) headquarters in Zomba when he officially launched the construction of houses for prison staff nationwide.
He said the ministry has this year been allocated K250 million for preparatory work for the construction of 10 000 institutional houses for the Malawi Defence Force (MDF), Malawi Police Service, Immigration and Prison Services.
Vuwa-Kaunda said the first phase starts with construction of 5 000 houses and this year 1 000 houses will be constructed of which, the Prison Services will benefit 100.
“The Zomba Central and Chichiri prisons will benefit 20 houses each and the other houses will be spread to other prison stations to ensure that staff members are able to regroup easily in times of operations,” he said.
On his part, Commissioner of Prisons responsible for farms and industries Clement Kainja described the project as a motivation to the staff.
He said prisons across the country have 200 institutional houses against a population of 2500 prison warders.
“The construction of the houses will ease the pressure officers feel when responding to duties, particularly those living in rented apartments away from their work stations,” said Kainja. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) led administration launched the project in 2014 but after five years, just 200 houses have been constructed.
