Outcry over contraband, prison escapes
Lebogang Mosikare | Monday February 26, 2024 06:00
Mmusi made the remarks during the BPS Senior Officers Conference on Wednesday that was held under the theme, “Building a high performance culture: Repositioning, Realigning and Re-engineering the Prison Service to achieve its mandate.”
“As I draw towards my concluding remarks, let me assure you of my ministry’s commitment to capacitate you to deal with the ever changing crime landscape.
It would please me, if at the end of this conference you have developed resolutions and a plan that would facilitate your transformation into a model of correctional excellence. A plan that will enable you to address the challenges you face such as infiltration of prohibited articles, prison escapes as well as combating crimes conducted within our prison walls.
Let us keep on being vigilant, committed to duty at all times as Batswana remain entrusted on us for their safety and peace of mind,” said Mmusi. Mmusi said so in the backdrop of two inmates, Takudzwa Banga, 20, and Foster Mathe, 18, who escaped from Moshupa Boys Prison in January but were recaptured two days later. Prison escapes have long tormented the BPS. In 2017, 18 inmates escaped from a correctional facility in Gerald Estates, Francistown. Some of them, especially Zimbabweans are yet to be recaptured. Mmusi also decried that issues of gender-based violence (GBV) continue to rise within the disciplined forces.
“GBV cases continue to be on the rise within the disciplined forces. I understand that the BPS has progressed well in contributing to the fight against this scourge and further introduced the GBV Perpetrator’s Programme (Perpetrators Voice) as one of the character moulding programmes for prisoners. The programme aims at correcting offending behaviour of GBV perpetrators and will facilitate a positive life free of crime upon release from prison. This is a step in the right direction by the BPS. We have to be seen in the forefront leading in the fight against GBV,” Mmusi underscored.
He added: “I further want to urge you as the leadership of the BPS to play an active role in ensuring that officers under your command are capacitated on issues of mental health as one of your welfare programmes.” Meanwhile, Mmusi lamented that issues of poor service delivery by public officers continue to plague the government, a matter he added that President Mokgweetsi Masisi also decried recently. “As the Ministry, we are also concerned with the quality of service rendered to the general public by our respective departments. I therefore, urge you as your Minister, to ensure that you deliver quality service and timely service to Batswana at all times and make sure that you develop feedback mechanisms for the services you offer so that you identify and work on areas that need improvement.
Timely payment of suppliers of goods and services is a persistent challenge that requires your urgent attention. Some of the entities that you do business with, especially the small and medium sized enterprises have closed down while others are on the brink of collapse due to delayed payments for goods and services they rendered to us.
This needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency since it tends to defeat governments efforts to empower local citizens,” Mmusi lamented. He then urged the BPS to ensure that all outstanding payments to suppliers are settled before the end of this month and proof of payments submitted to his Ministry by the first week of March. “You are also reminded to ensure strict adherence to the turnaround time for payment of suppliers which is ten (10) working days. I also wish to buttress the issue of prudence in the utilisation of financial resources. I am aware that the BPS has put in place cost cutting and cost containment initiatives which are geared towards reducing unnecessary government expenditure.
Let me further urge you to ensure compliance with laid down policies and procedures regarding financial management.” In her remarks, the Commissioner of BPS, Dinah Marathe, pledged that at the end of the conference, the BPS would have developed some key strategic resolutions that will facilitate the “development of and compliance to standards, procedures and processes in order to improve operational efficiency, project management, prudence in resource management and organisational effectiveness, development of more impactful security interventions, custodial services, rehabilitation and reintegration interventions and programmes and their implementation and establishment of and maintenance of stakeholder collaborations in order to improve programme outputs and outcomes...”