Skunk at Prisons must be removed once and for all

By John Gerezani

Last week as l signed off here that the Prisons Department is having its fair share of drama, warders at the Mashujaa Day parade rehearsals were pulling a fast one on a corrupt cabal that has been misappropriating allowances given by State House year in year out.

I have on more than one occasion pointed out to corrupt networks within both the ministry as well as the department but as usual I have been accused of stirring the hornets nest.

Well, today the chicks come home to roost as we expose the skunk that has over time found an abode within Prisons – corruption. Every 30 days preceding Madaraka and Mashujaa days, select officers drawn from different disciplined formations go into residential camp from where they then move to Uhuru Park or Nyayo Stadium every morning at 4am to fine tune their drills.

Not so with their prisons colleagues who are picked from different stations every morning. Question number one, is the Prisons Department allocated funds for the residential camps, and if yes, where has it been going to, if no, why have they been discriminated against?

Question number two, who funds the breakfast and lunch these other formations are given while prisons officers gawk and salivate on air burgers? Is it not true that all are supposed to be provided lunch and breakfast?

Question number three, who has been signing for and taking these officers’ allowances over the years because despite State House releasing the funds, they have been ending up in some undeserving pockets.

I am talking fraud here my good people and want to challenge the person/s responsible to produce the payment vouchers for comparison with the specimen signature of the alleged recipients.

Question number four: in whose account was the Mashujaa Day money deposited, for what purpose and at what interest? My bird at Magereza House informs me that an emergency meeting took place there on Friday, October 19 night once news leaked that parade officers were on the final stages of executing their strike plan.

Now allowances going back a couple of years are being demanded by officers who have been participating in parades without being paid and boy, is it not fun getting vibes of the methods being used to source the funds.

I am surprised that no sackings and arrests have been made up to now despite overwhelming evidence on this matter. 

Secondly, how much are warders entitled to as night-out and out of station allowances respectively, is this money released to all stations or to a select few?

I am asking this question because there is great discrepancy in amounts paid at different stations, if at all, and there are fears that the monies have been lining some pockets.

It’s more than a year since the PS in the line ministry made it public as the accounting officer that inmates were to be supplied with sweaters, toiletries and shoes.

One should visit our prisons to see the real state of affairs because it seems that some statements are made to the gallery.

One last thing, could someone explain why warders going for the national parades as well as those graduating from PSTC Ruiru are routinely forced to borrow or use weather beaten uniforms instead of being issued with new ones like other formations do?

I will not go into stories of those fiddling with inmates’ rations, using prison vehicles for private errands, buying counterfeit Honda motorbikes for the department, sourcing supplies at make believe prices... the list is endless.

I am now inviting both the DPP and the anti-corruption agency to move into the department and launch comprehensive investigations with a view to making immediate arrests. The skunk must be removed once and for all.

The writer comments on social issues