New prisons chief vows to tackle decongestion

Written by ABDULWAKIL SAIBOKO

THE newly appointed Commissioner General of Prison, Mr John Casmir Minja took oath of office and promised to rightly advise the government on ways to decongest prisons in the country.

Mr Minja who took oath before President Jakaya Kikwete in a colourful ceremony held at the State House in Dar es Salaam, said that to start with he will propose the need to introduce a punishment policy. "All the prisons in the country have a capacity of holding 27,552 inmates at a time but we are currently congested with some 38,000 inmates," he said.

Mr Minja noted that having a punishment policy in place would help in ensuring that various people found guilty by the court are either given a reasonable term in prison or are given alternative punishments. "It happens that someone may have stolen a chicken and sent to prison for four years and another one who has been found guilty of stealing a cow is sentenced for two years. Such punishments are unreasonable and it is time we seriously look for alternative punishment," he said.

Mr Minja said with a punishment policy in place, prisons will be decongested and prisoners will lead a decent life as prisons are not meant to make people suffer but rather help them change for better. He also promised to advise the government to expand and improve prisons in a same spirit of ensuring decent life to prisoners.

The outgoing Commissioner General of Prisons, Mr Augustino Nanyaro, who was also present at the occasion, said that he has faith in his successor and believes the prisons department has a bright future under his watch. "I worked with Mr Minja, he knows the challenges facing the prisons department and he has always been part of the solution and I believe he will lead the department to a brighter future," he said.

Mr Nanyaro said that though he has retired, he will continue to provide advisory assistance whenever the need arises, adding that he would love to always see inmates leading a better life. He urged his successor who is a lawyer by profession to work closely with the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in ensuring that case hearings are expedited in a bid to decongest prisons.

Meanwhile, ANNE ROBI reports that the Legal Human Right Centre (LHRG) has called on the government to find ways to engage people serving life and death sentences in productive activities rather than having them on death row. LHRG also asked the government to abolish the death penalty in Tanzania since it violates the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Executive Director of LHRG, Dr Hellen Kijo-Bisimba made the appeal  in Dar es Salaam during celebrations to mark the 10th Anniversary of the World against Death Penalty in the Country. 

"We know that no one has been executed since 1994, but we urge the government to take steps to abolish the death penalty as a matter of maintaining principles of human rights," she urged. Dr Kijo-Bisimba also said that people serving life sentences should be allowed to engage in various development activities for betterment of the nation.

"Keeping them behind bars and waiting for them to die there is against human rights and most importantly it is a waste of human resources," she said. In another development, the British High Commission has advised the government to impose an effective criminal justice system which the people will trust so that perpetrators are caught and convicted.

High Commission Representative, Mr Mark Polatajko said that the system should be complemented by education and employment opportunities that help reduce crime in society. "We have to accept that death penalty is no solution to insecurity and high rates of violent crime," he said adding that the penalty undermines human dignity and has no conclusive evidence of its deterrent value.

Source: Daily News (11/10/2012): http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/local-news/10399-new-prisons-chief-vows-to-tackle-decongestion