Prison staff must be professional—Nkhoma
Chief Commissioner of Prisons Kennedy Nkhoma says the past year rehabilitated offenders in various prisons across the country.
He was speaking at the 2014 senior prison officers’ Christmas Ball and New Year for the Eastern Region which was held on Wednesday in Zomba.
Nkhoma attributed the reduction in number of prison escapees to unity and professionalism of prison officers in all stations.
“We registered remarkable progress in our operations for the year 2014. We recruited 743 warders whose training is currently underway at Mapanga in Blantyre.
“This is the largest intake in the history of the Malawi Prison Service and surely after graduation, these officers will beef up security and assist in rehabilitation of offenders.”
He further added that the 2014 academic year has seen a number of inmates scoring higher grades in national examinations which he describes as no mean achievement.
On international relations, Nkhoma said Malawi Prison Service was elected deputy secretary of African Correctional Services Association (ACSA)— an umbrella body of all correctional facilities in Africa.
He, therefore, said Malawi is due to host the next ACSA conference in 2016.
“We are no longer a punitive institution and would like our officers to be leaders rather than uniform carriers.
“These are people who commit various offences while in uniform. So, whatever we do must follow the chain of command and comply with the demands of discipline,” Nkhoma said.
Transport, insufficient funding and accommodation for staff were highlighted as some of the challenges that rocked the Malawi Prison Service in 2014.
