Kindiki promises to enforce Maraga Taskforce's recommendations' for prison reforms

If Parliament approves Kithure Kindiki for the position of Interior and Coordination of the National Government, he will have a significant task in implementing major reforms for the housing, welfare, and rehabilitation of its penal institutions during his term.

Under former Vice President Moody Awori's leadership, the service underwent major reforms that focused on improving prisons and prisoners' welfare.

While that was happening, the state of prison staff welfare, including housing and salaries, has for decades remained deplorable, with Justice David Maraga's Task Force on Police and Prison Reforms noting that the housing situation in the service, 60 years after independence, is in a horrendous and unacceptable state, an indictment on the KPS leadership and the responsible policymakers.

"It is the considered view of the Taskforce that the crisis in KPS housing is not a consequence of mere lack of resources but mainly the result of failure of leadership by those responsible," the Taskforce said.

The CS stated that they will implement the 117 recommendations the task force made for the service in phases and as a matter of priority.

"We have a number of recommendations on modernising and reforming the prisons that we are taking up from the Maraga Taskforce. I had prepared a cab memo that had not been submitted to the cabinet, but I am sure if I am reappointed, that will be a priority," said Prof. Kindiki.

Some of the proposed areas of reform include making prison enterprises more productive by investing in better technology at their workshops to improve the quality and quantity of products made.

"Labour and skill are available; if they are given better equipment for carpentry, masonry, and other skills, we are going to have better output, generate more revenue, and avoid the prisons from relying on the exchequer all the time in these times of constrained budget," the CS added.

On welfare issues, Kindiki said plans are underway to improve terms and conditions for prison officers in consultation with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).

"We are also working on software issues, for example, providing mattresses. We have a programme called "One prisoner, one mattress," through which we have provided 10,000 from our budget and with the support of other partners," he said, adding that nearly 500 new prison quarters have been established against a set target of 28,000 units in different prison facilities.

While presenting its needs to the task force, the service leadership revealed that currently, the service has only 5,000 permanent units against a staff strength of over 30,000.

After taking a tour of the facilities, the task force noticed that the current state of KPS housing is poor, with a majority of them decaying and generally unfit for human habitation. The Madoka Committee made similar findings in its report 15 years ago.

"Houses ranged from mud houses and metallic uni-huts to self-built iron sheet shacks. Other officers reside in condemned houses with crumbling walls and broken sanitation, crowded halls, and low-quality, tattered tents. Maintenance of the few decent houses is poor, thus exposing officers and their families to unfathomable health risks," the committee observed, adding that the situation is in contrast to the service's reputation of having vast tracts of land.

On encroachment on prison land, the CS nominee said serious encroachment on prison property still persists, mainly because most do not have title deeds.

"The most notorious one is the Kitale prison land, where out of the 3,000 acres, only less than 300 are available. The rest have been grabbed by powerful and former senior people in various administrations and their friends. We will have to recover it; we have engaged the National Lands Commission and other stakeholders," he said.