By PERCY CHATO
The Guest of Honour, I am greatly delighted and honoured to stand before you this evening to welcome you and your dear wife to Philip Sinyangwe Prisons Service Tennis Club on this important occasion of the 2013 Senior Prisons Officers annual ball.
Sir, from the onset, allow me on behalf of the officers of the Zambia Prisons Service, my dear wife and indeed on my own behalf, to categorically welcome you to this exciting event where we get together to wine, dine, and dance, as we reflect on some of the activities of the year 2013 in the execution of our duties of providing humane custodial and correctional services as well as industrial and agricultural production.
The guest of honour,
May also I use this rare opportunity to sincerely congratulate you on your appointment as Minister of Home Affairs. With you appointment, sir, we are confident that your inspiring leadership and vision will steer the Ministry of Home Affairs to greater heights and put the Zambia Prisons Service on a developmental path aimed at enhancing our effectiveness in the promotion of public safety and in ensuring compliance with international and continental protocols on the treatment of prisoners and management of prisons.
Sir, may I also thank you profoundly for accepting to officiate at this annual ball – the first one you are officiating for the Zambia Prisons Service in your new official designation as Minister of Home Affairs. Your positive consideration of our invitation few weeks upon your appointment signals the importance you attach to the Zambia Prisons Service.
The guest of honour,
Allow me also to take this extraordinary opportunity to welcome our distinguished guests who have positively responded to our invitation to be part of us during this memorable event.
As Zambia Prisons Service, we count it as a blessing that we are celebrating this annual event together with you our distinguished guests and we sincerely thank you for your presence.
It is my sincere hope and trust that at the end of this occasion, all acquaintances will be strengthened and new ones formed for the betterment and unity of mother Zambia as a country and the Zambia Prisons Service in particular.
The guest of honour, distinguished ladies and gentlemen,
“Hard work, professionalism, productivity and sustainable growth” is the theme for this annual ball and was our fundamental focus in the year 2013.
With this fundamental focus, we re-aligned ourselves with modern methods of administering the Zambia Prisons Service despite the complexities and challenges that went along the day-to-day management of our prisons and the control of prisoners lodged there in.
Therefore, I wish to report that the following positive developments took place during the year under review:
Sustainable Agriculture and industrial production
The guest of honour, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I wish to report that in 2013, the Zambia Prisons Service was able to produce 60,500 x 50 kilogrammes bags of maize. This produce was below the projected produce due to unfavorable rain patterns and presence of army worms that attacked some our fields.
However, in our pursuit to re-shape our agricultural activities to commercial and sustainable levels with emphasis on value addition to the maize we produce, we commissioned Kalonga milling plant in October 2013. The milling plant that has a capacity to produce 3,200 x 25 kg bags of mealie meal in 24 hours was one the significant milestone developments that put the Zambia Prisons Service on an effective developmental path and will re-shape our agricultural activities to commercial and sustainable levels and positioned the Zambia Prisons Service to contribute to the country’s food basket. With the milling plant, we are also likely to make a savings of K5.6 million annually in the feeding of Prisoners since it costs the Zambia Prisons Service K15,600 on a daily basis to feed the 17,000 prisoners on mealie-meal.
We foresee a bright future in the area of agriculture and industrial production following the approval of a progressive budget in 2013 that allocated K22 million for farm expansion programmes. Therefore, with the allocation of K22 million in this year’s budget, some of our major farms like Chitumba prison farm are earmarked for expansion and equipping with modern farming equipment this year in order to increase our production.
Operating secure, safe and orderly Prisons
The guest of honour, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I wish to report that the year 2013 pushed us to the extreme as far as operating secure, safe and orderly Prisons was concerned, especially the tension and cases of physical violent behavior among some condemned prisoners at Kabwe Maximum Security that eventually led to a jail break of three prisoners and possible riot that we suppressed using minimum force.
However, in our pursuit to operate secure, safe and orderly Prisons, we were not distracted by the media hype that the suppressing of the potential riot attracted. We worked so hard that we completed opened the new Mwembeshi Maximum Security Prison in March 2013.
Through this positive development, we were able to address the deteriorating situation of severe overcrowding at Kabwe Maximum Security Prison.
The completion and commissioning of the 650 capacity new Mwembeshi maximum security prison was a milestone development towards re-shaping the history and future of the Zambia Prisons Service.
This new prison increased the number of our Prisons from 53 to 54, the new prison increased our holding capacity to 8,150 from 7,500 and the new prison reduced overcrowding from 226 percent to 208 percent during its launch.
The new Mwembeshi Maximum Security Prison also gave us an opportunity to conduct the biggest and most spectacular transfer of 600 long-term prisoners at a go from Kabwe Maximum Security Prison to Mwembeshi Maximum Security Prison in collaboration with other defence and security wings through an operation that was christened “Operation Change Nest” and involved security, transport and air support from the Zambia Army, the Zambia Air Force, the Zambia Police and the Road Transport and Safety Agency. Through this operation, Kabwe Maximum Security Prison was decongested by 600 prisoners and was effectively restored to operate in a secure, safe and orderly manner.
We foresee a bright future in the area of operating secure, safe and orderly prisons following the approval of a progressive budget in 2013 that allocated K12 million for cell improvement. We are, therefore, glad that the government is building capacity in the Zambia Prisons Service through building and renovation some prison infrastructure and this year, we will be in a position to complete and commission the new Kalabo prison, Luwingu prison, and Monze prison.
Professional Staff
The guest of honour, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, in operating secure, safe and orderly prisons, we are happy to note that officers were not left out as far as their capacity to execute their duties diligently was concerned. We therefore scored the following in 2013:
The Prisons establishment was increased by 628 to 2,569 officers following a pass-out parade held in June 2013 of 22 officer cadets and 608 recruits after the completion of months of rigorous training. The officer cadets and recruits intake was a new creation and was largest group ever trained at the Prisons Staff Training College.
Despite, this positive development, I wish to report that the current staff strength is so inadequate to effectively man our facilities in line with the prescribed ratio of one officer to four prisoners due to various factors such as increasing population of prisoners, resignations, dismissals, deaths, retirements and departmental transfers.
We therefore have a serious deficiency in the number of officers involved in the custodial work, correctional work and industrial agricultural production.
I wish to appeal to the government to give special attention to our request in ensuring that there is continuous recruitment of Prison officers.
In the area of staff accommodation, eight houses were completed and handed over in Lusaka Twin Palm area in May 2013 to alleviate staff accommodation shortages for Lusaka-based Prison officers.
The eight houses were part of the housing project that the Zambia Prisons Service through the Ministry of Home Affairs embarked on where two high cost houses were constructed for senior officers in Twin Palm and where 20 houses were constructed and commissioned in Mukobeko Prisons camp in Kabwe.
I wish to state here that the crisis of accommodation in the Service is a very disheartening matter because of the lack of it while demand runs high. The Service has a total of 900 houses of which 512 are habitable against a population of 2,500 officers. Most of the inhabitable houses were constructed at the same time as the old prison infrastructure.
In the area of training, officers were trained in specialised courses both locally and abroad. Notable among the training was:
The Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Service Equitation Training programme that equipped two officers with horsemanship skills at Chikurubi Training School in Harare, Zimbabwe. Through this training programme, our officers have skills to effectively use our horses in the Prison security system. The successful completion of this training programme in June 2013 led to the establishment of a mounted unit for the Zambia Prisons Service.
64 Officers were trained as bandsmen and women by the Zambia National Service (ZNS) at the ZNS Training School in Kabwe. The completion of this training will enable the Zambia Prisons Service to form its first ever brass band and
2 Officers were trained in Egypt on security and rehabilitation.
Our professional approach towards work enabled us to second eight officers to peacekeeping operations that have a Prisons component like the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), and the United Nations/African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), of which two officers successfully completed their one year and six months tour of duty. We also succeeded in seconding our officer as Prisons Liaison Officer to the SADC secretariat in Gaborone, Botswana.
We foresee a bright future in the area of operating secure, safe and orderly prisons through a professional cadre of prisons officers following the awarding of salary increments and the introduction of other incentives in our new conditions of service in September 2013 through the harmonization and rationalization of salaries and conditions of service for the defense and security personnel that was initiated by a policy statement by His Excellency the President and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces Mr. Michael Chilufya Sata. We are therefore grateful to the President for this initiative. We are also hopeful that this process will be completed and will address rank disparities effectively.
Prisoners’ welfare
The guest of honour, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the Zambia Prisons Service has continued to come up with new innovations to align itself to the modern demands of prisons management that is enshrined in the respect of the principal of the respect of the inherent dignity of a human person. In this respect, we endeavoured to operate a prison system that comprised the treatment of prisoners whose essential aim was the reformation and social rehabilitation of prisoners. We therefore scored the following in the area of offering education and skills training to prisoners in 2013:
230 Prisoners sat for various examinations under the Examination Council of Zambia,
891 were trade-tested by the Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Authority (TEVETA) in carpentry and joinery, brick laying and plastering, tailoring and designing, metal fabrication, auto mechanics, power electrical and plumbing, In terms of these sustainable life skills, we worked in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs Crime (UNODC) and Prisoners Future Foundation.
We completed and commissioned two chapels at Kansenji State Prison in Ndola and at Kasempa Prison in November and May 2013 respectively. These chapels were our practical expression of our commitment of putting the right to freedom of conscious and religion at the centre of all our rehabilitation activities in our prison facilities through the Chaplaincy Unit – a religious unit in Zambia Prisons Service with 38 Chaplains whose aim is to provide spiritual, psychological, social, moral and emotional development to the Prisoners, and members of staff and their families.
The guest of honour, ladies and gentlemen
From the aforementioned achievements, there is no doubt that the Zambia Prison Service has received unprecedented support in various operations from government, Non-Governmental Organisations and Faith-Based Organisations and is on developmental path. Therefore, I will deliberately not lament on our typical challenges.
At the same time, the commitment of my staff cannot be overlooked. As the theme of this year’s annual ball reads:
“hard work, professionalism, productivity and sustainable growth”, there is no doubt that my officers really demonstrated and interpreted the ideals of this theme.
To my officers, I urge you to continue with the same spirit in the year 2014. As we embark on the 2014 collective journey, we must remember that the year 2013 was not an easy year but due to our collective efforts, hard work, professionalism and integrity, we managed to score significant successes.
I urge you to remain resolute, disciplined and continue to be loyal to the government of the day and have respect for each other as we continue offering public safety to our people in the New Year.
If any one of you does not live to these ideals, I will make sure that one falls from grace to grass.
The guest of honour, ladies and gentlemen,
In concluding my remarks, I wish on behalf of officers of the Zambia Prisons Service to reaffirm our loyalty to His Excellency the President and commander-in-chief of the armed forces Mr. Michael Chilufya Sata and government. We pledge to remain steadfast to protect the Constitution and the people of Zambia.
We will support Government programmes by ensuring effective and efficient implementation of government`s strategies and policies.
The author is Commissioner of Prisons.
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Zambia Prisons Service: …2013 successes and challenges
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