Prisons in food crisis

Malawi Prison Service (MPS) has acknowledged a shortage of food in the country’s prisons owing to an erratic supply by contracted suppliers.

In a telephone interview yesterday, MPS spokesperson Chimwemwe Shaba said contracted suppliers are reluctant to supply foodstuffs, especially maize as they are demanding higher amounts than what was initially agreed.

He said: “Their [suppliers] argument is that the current prices of maize have gone up so they want more. They have been asking to raise their prices but when you look at what we offered, it is not far from the current prices.”

Maize is selling at K22 000 per 50 kilogramme bag, a 30 percent rise from K17 000 before the closure of State-produce trader Agriculture Development Marketing Corporation.

This is not the first time for the country’s prisons to face food shortages. In March this year, the prisons ran out of foodstuffs due to their inability to access funds through the Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis).

The food crisis has since resulted in prisoners going to bed on an empty stomach while in some establishments, prisoners are surviving on beans.

The situation is worse in some prisons, especially where there are prisoners who are on antiretroviral treatment (ART) and tuberculosis (TB) medication  and are required to have proper meals.

While acknowledging that the situation is dire in some of the prisons, Shaba said MPS is rationing food in some of its establishments to share with their counterparts to ensure that prisoners have access to the foodstuffs everyday.

He said through advice from the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority, MPS has also retendered the food supply contracts and that several suppliers have since shown interest.

According to Shaba, MPS has also been in talks with Admarc to help with the supply of maize to ease the situation.

“We were told to send them information on how much the establishments require and submissions were made,” he said.

While blaming the contracted suppliers for trying to take advantage of the situation, Shaba said regardless of the challenges, MPS continues to receive funding from the government.

In a separate interview yesterday, Centre for Human Rights, Education, Advice and Assistance executive director Victor Mhango described the situation as unfortunate, considering that prisoners are a vulnerable group in society who entirely depend on the government.

He also differed with Shaba on reasons given for the erratic supply of the foodstuffs saying it is the failure by MPS to honour their debts.

Mhango said funding has been erratic and that last year, MPS failed to pay suppliers because of the problems with Integrated Financial Management Information System.

He said: “There are prisoners who are on t ART and TB treatment who cannot take their medication without food. [So] the current situation is like a death sentence for them.

“If they miss taking their drugs because of food, they might develop resistance to the drugs which may result in them losing their lives. As a nation, we should be extremely concerned and we need to take action now.”

Mhango said if authorities remain complacent on the matter, it will mean that there is no value in human rights.

MPS records show that the country’s prison population fluctuates between 11 000 and 13 000.

The Northern Region has prisons in Chitipa, Karonga, Mzuzu, Nkhata Bay, Mzimba and Rumphi while in the Central Region they include Kasungu, Ntchisi, Lilongwe, Dedza and Nkhotakota.

Eastern Region has prisons in Ntcheu, Mangochi, Domasi, Zomba Central Prison, Mikuyu Prison and Mpyupyu.

In the South, there is Mwanza, Luwani, Chikwawa, Mulanje, Thyolo, Bvumbwe, Blantyre, Bangula, Nsanje and Makande.