Africa-Press – Botswana. The infiltration of prohibited articles into prisons and officers’ involvement in dealings which end up compromising prison security is reportedly still a matter of great concern in Botswana.
“This is a glaring concern and source of worry for me and the entire nation,” Minister of Defence and Security Mr Kagiso Mmusi said in Selebi Phikwe Wednesday.
Mr Mmusi, who was officially opening the Botswana Prisons Service senior officers’ annual conference, stated that chaos and lawlessness at the organisation’s facilities and among its staff was unacceptable.
He called on prison officers to display a high level of discipline.
“Delivery of the prisons mandate requires a combination of essential values such as accountability, team work, security consciousness and integrity and this desired behaviour should be modelled by yourselves and promoted among your peers and subordinates,” said the minister.
Mr Mmusi urged officers to serve with pride and distinction.
He said there was need to review interventions, strategies, initiatives, policies, laws, processes and procedures to provide timely and quality service.
Commending the organisation for its Food Security Strategy, Mr Mmusi said it had the potential to enhance food self-sufficiency.
“I expect that this will be one of your priorities because it can also assist you to empower prisoners with skills that will render them active participants in the national food strategy,” he said.
For her part, prisons commissioner, Ms Dinah Marathe said the organisation needed to change the way it had been doing things.
Policies, strategies and procedures had to be revamped in order to cultivate a high performance culture, she said.
Ms Marathe said prison service was currently working on rebranding which entailed a new uniform, change of name and corporate colours.
She also disclosed plans for the introduction of an air wing and a video visitation platform as well as automation of systems.
Ms Marathe lamented the influx of prohibited articles into prisons and high number of prison escapes.
“There are worrisome reports of some of the officers within the service conniving with prisoners to smuggle these items into our prisons, an act that compromises security in our facilities and diminishes public trust on us,” she said.
The ministry’s permanent secretary, Ms Botlhale Makgekgenene said the conference theme; Building a high performance culture: Repositioning, Realigning and Re-engineering the Prison Service to achieve its mandate, resonated with the culture of a first class business.
She said at the end of the conference, the organisation should have introspected and developed tools to assist in the actualisation of the theme.
Ms Makgekgenene encouraged prisons to work towards full implementation of its strategies, particularly those concerned with food security and prisoner reintegration.
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