24 Mar 2019

 President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi, on March 21 , visited Gaborone prison facilities to familiarise himself with daily operations.

Dr Masisi said he wanted to have first-hand appreciation of the infrastructure and other facilities meant to support the institution in the execution of its mandate.

He stated that prison work was unique and challenging, therefore its operational efficiency and effectiveness depended on a number of factors; among them being in a conducive work environment.

Dr Masisi reminded prison officers that it was their responsibility to ensure the safety of prisoners, including that of members of the public, adding that their work entailed dealing with different types of offenders, some of whom had committed serious offences.

He said prisons were a security area that should be treated as such, cautioning that officers should rise above their ordinary levels of behaviour and ensure that prisons were free of illegal gadgets such as cellular phones, drugs and weapons.

In addition to the prison officers’ expectation of high moral uprightness and integrity, Dr Masisi said they also had an obligation to rehabilitate prisoners.

He said their obligation could be realised, with the consideration of a draft Rehabilitation Policy.

The Rehabilitation Policy, he said, was intended to enhance the effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes offered by the Prison service; such programmes included skills training and development, enhanced educational opportunities up to tertiary level, counselling and mentoring and psycho-social support.

Dr Masisi added that rehabilitation programmes should be aligned to the national priorities of an educated and informed nation, noting that in this way, they will ensure that prisoners leave prison as responsible members of society ready to make meaningful contribution to the development of their nation. He said one of his priorities was transformation of Botswana from a resource based economy to a knowledge based one.

He, therefore, encouraged prisons services to take up the challenge and embark on personal development programmes including leveraging on technology to achieve all that.

He further said the institution should prioritise human resource development; adding that it was only through training and skills development that prisons would produce people with the right aptitude, competencies, necessary ethical conduct and integrity for the job.

Dr Masisi appealed to the prison service to use the proposed Food Security Strategy in Agriculture as one of the rehabilitation programmes, adding that emphasis should be on skilling prisoners in modern agriculture methods and agro processing.

He also said successful implementation of the Food Security Strategy will also significantly reduce government expenditure in feeding prisoners and could ultimately contribute to the national food basket.

On their conditions of service and welfare matters, Dr Masisi said upgrading of the salary structure for the prison service had been approved and will be effected on April 1.

He indicated that officers holding the rank of Warder will now move from salary scale B3 to B1; adding that this will have a knock-on effect on all the ranks up to that of Commissioner of Prisons.

In his welcome, Commissioner of Prisons, Colonel Silas Motlalekgosi said prisons services like any government departments had been transformed from institution mainly concerned with status quo to the ones characterised by change and innovation. 

He said prison was coming of age and realising its potential through massive developments.

Colonel Motlalekgosi further said their transformational journey started with the amendment of the Prisons Act, which he said then facilitated the review of organisational structure and many others to follow.

He also added that their total computerisation and automation system interface is about to take off and that will make their departments more relevant and compliant with the new age era. ENDS