By Dickens WasongaÂ
Freelance Journalist, Kisumu
TEL: +254721784774
THE government has set aside Kshs. 300 million to construct a correction facility in Nyanza’s Rachuonyo district.
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The project brings to six the number of the penal institutions in the province.
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According to the area provincial prisons commandant Mr. Benjamin Njoga, the facility will accomodate 500 inmates and will have 150 wardens when it becomes fully operational.
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Mr. Njoga said the facility will be built at Wagwe area of west Karachuonyo division. He said a twenty-six acre piece of land which was being held in trust by Rachuonyo county council will be used to construct the facility.
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The senior assistant commissioner of prisons said the institution will be used by prisoners who have been sentenced to serve between six months to four years in jail and will be complete in the next six years.
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He said in the first six months of the project thirty houses will be built for the prison staff and another unit which will accommodate eighty inmates will be constructed in the first phase of the project.
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Mr. Njoga said Kshs. 1 Million had already been received from the government for the fencing of the project area and part of the money will be used in processing land rates.
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He said the institution will help the government to decongest the existing correctional facilities in the province and appealed to the local residents to support it.
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Mr. Njoga said Kodiaga G.K prisons which is the biggest penal institution within the entire western region was currently holding 2200 inmates against its official capacity of 800. He added that Kisii prison which is supposed to accommodate 600 prisoners had a population of 1180 while Homa-Bay had a population of 500 inmates against its capacity of 300. Others he mentioned included Migori and Kibos prisons which are equally over-stretched
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Mr. Njoga said that besides the infrastructural development, the institution will invest in agriculture.
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”During our field days the local farmers will have chance to learn about modern techniques of farming and livestock rearing,†said Njoka.
ENDS
Prison in Nyanza?
That is going against the grains of development in the slightest sense of stretched imagination.
Considering that this area, (Nyanza) where the government is building prison is among those economically deprived in the country. In my small world of Economic thought, I have never known or imagined that prisons are in any way, shape or form related or linked to development, leave alone having a police station. Some of those criminals destined for this prison would by stretch of imagination fall within the periphery of petty crimininals. The best the government will need to do, is to propose a structure, or an industrial plan which will bring the jobs back to the Economy. Such a plan could include reviving Miwani Sugar Mills, Kicomi Cotton Mills, bring Mumias, Muhoroni, Chemelil and the Lake Basin development Authority back to the full capacity of operations so people among those displaced by violence, those without jobs can get means by which to survive and not to commit crime.
Now, with this sort of project in the pipeline, then these kinds of industries mentioned above will help revive the lost glories of Nyanza as a Sugar producing belt and an area with some of the best brains in the country.
One would wonder how the government’s priority is twisted. Why would we build jails than even thinking of reviving the dilapidated economy, water and sewage system in the major towns like Kisumu are not up to the capacity or standard of the millennium city. We find that towns like Homa-bay, Kisii, Kericho, Oyugis, Awendo, Migori, Ahero, Kendu Bay among others, are yearning for sound municipal structures to help sustain their developments.
In countries like the USA and other first economies, the have a different approach to this kind of development. We see the city or the municipality take the initiative of planning and building the structures like roads, water and sewage treatment plants among others and then turn around and then charge for these services rendered to build a strong and sound security structure like the police, fire station, hospitals, health centers, clinics, police stations, constant clean water supply, sewage and sanitation, city jails or county or federal corrections facilities as the budget may allow them.
This is my recommendation for the Kenya government, with the new coalition government of the National unity in place. There need to be devolution of power with sound and equal distribution of the limited resources. Kenya need to have manufacturing industries like Creameries, Cement factory, Brewery, Sugar Refinery, light Auto parts production plants, fishing and fisheries, sport finishing for tourists and and tourism, Ship repair and manufacturing around the lake Victoria region area, extensive cash crop production like Cotton, Maize, Flower farms, millet and Sorghum. This needs to be encouraged by the government through making of loan and credits to the small business at a reasonable interest rates. In fact, will special arrangement, projects like these are well funded by the world bank and the donor countries. In a micro finance form of economy, progress looms. For the world Bank and the donor agencies to get involved and be satisfied, accountability and transparency has to prevail. If this is achieve, in the long run dependency and unemployment will be a thing of the past.
Well planned and thoroughly studied environmental impact assessment for the above proposed industries can and will do very well and will supply a wide market in the country and will also span to the neighboring countries like Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda. With these industries in place and the strong economic environment and educated work force, tourism will come in strong, tertiary, service industries, transport, communication and telecommunication will no doubt fall in place like a jigsaw puzzle, of course, we assume that the rule of law, good governance, good well accounted for public policy when are all set in motion and in place shall play a major role in minimizing the impact of crime and reduction for the need of such expensive jails at the expense of real grassroots growth and development essentials.
In essence, what I am alluding to is that a K.Shs. 300 million for jail will not suffice to help fight crime. Unless and until the government turn around her reckless policies and do all it takes to stop and completely eradicate or prevent corruption and its vices, view Kenya as a one large economy not on tribal basis, accountant for each and every public penny spent in development, no one will take them seriously in alleviating poverty or will count themselves in as partners in development .
I also believe that building roads, improving telecommunications, improving and enhancing the high speed Internet accessibility, improving the banking system from being a cash economy to being fully electronic, and fulfilling the long awaited promise of rural electrification will cause a trickle effect from top to bottom and will create a multiplier effect and create economic linkages in the micro and macro levels of the economy which will help jump start the economic growth and then will make the government, in this case a public sector and the local government (municipality and the counties) to generate income in the form of taxes to help finance more need projects like community libraries, village clinics, and affordable public transport system.
Imagine we have not even involved the municipal bonds yet. These are some of the methods which the local government (municipalities) can use to generate money by people investing in their interests. Now that, in itself, improves the participants’ level of the common person in her/his community.
The idea of a 300 million shilling jail is an idea not suited to development. Jails are synonymous to underdevelopment and lack of civilization. They occupy large areas space and do little to plough anything back to the local economy where they are build. They should not be our first line of though, at least not after the hotly contested flawed election Kenya hard in December of 2007.
I find this as a rather misplaced priority. What the area need most is developement projects and not a correction facility. The cotton industry in the region is dead thanks the courtesy of the said gava. What would that money do revive the industry and what would be the ripple effect of this? Too enormous. How about a pineapple industry? the area is sorrounded by big farms of pineapple from Kochia which are just going to waste. Would the said gava put their priorities in order and expand the existing correctional facilities and not a white elephant. I rest my case….
The idea of a 300 million shilling jail is an idea not suited to development. Jails are synonymous to underdevelopment and lack of civilization. Ther first signal sent to the minds of People from Nyanza is that the region is full of notorious people and criminals who must be locked into a penitentiary unit.
As suggested by other respondents, there are several diseconomies of prison units:They occupy large areas space and do little to plough anything back to the local economy where they are build. They should not be our first line of though, at least not after the hotly contested flawed election Kenya hard in December of 2007.
I find this as a rather misplaced priority. What the area need most is developement projects and not a correction facility. The cotton industry in the region is dead thanks the courtesy of the said Gava. What would that money do revive the industry and what would be the ripple effect of this? Too enormous. How about a pineapple industry? The area is sorrounded by big farms of pineapple from Kochia and Kabondo Chabera-Nyakach which are just going to waste. Would the said Gava put their priorities in order and expand and improve the quality of the existing correctional facilities and not start another white elephant, that will soon be poorly managed, overpopulated, overcrowded and pose environmental hazards due to bad sewerage sysytems.
Improving the educational institutions,good learning and teaching facilities,classrooms and other educational workshops will help in shaping intellectual,personal and economic attitude of people. Building of roads, improving telecommunications, improving and enhancing the high speed Internet accessibility, improving the banking system from being a cash economy to being fully electronic, and fulfilling the long awaited promise of rural electrification will cause a trickle effect from top to bottom.
The above, I suppose, will create a multiplier effect and create economic linkages in the micro and macro levels of the economy which will help jump start the economic growth and then will make the government, in this case a public sector and the local government to generate income in the form of taxes to help finance more need projects like community libraries, village clinics, and affordable public transport system.
I therefore agree with other cotributors to this debate that the best the government will need to do, is to propose a structure, or an industrial plan which will bring the jobs back to the Economy. Such a plan could include reviving Miwani Sugar Mills, Kicomi Cotton Mills, bring Mumias, Muhoroni, Chemelil and the Lake Basin development Authority back to the full capacity of operations so people among those displaced by violence, those without jobs can get means by which to survive and not to commit crime.
The policy of devolution of power as seen in example of CDF with sound and equal distribution of the limited resources is reasonably widespread.This is just how good it can be if Kenya’s resorces are managed by the people themselves.We need to have manufacturing industries like Creameries, Cement factory, Brewery, Sugar Refinery, light Auto parts production plants, fishing and fisheries, sport finishing for tourists and and tourism, Ship repair and manufacturing around the lake Victoria region area, extensive cash crop production like Cotton, Maize, Flower farms, millet and Sorghum.
These are very relevant to the regions productivity and needs to be encouraged by the government through making of loan and credits to the small business at a reasonable interest rates.
Puting human resources to better and appropriate use is known to be an indirect way of alluding crime and chanelling peoples behaviour towards positive productivity. let us occupy the minds with better education and improve performance; provide and secure training and college facilities; be able to support futher education for our sons and daughters; be competitive in job markets and career build up; with incomes and well enlightened families, crime will drop and so there will be no need for prisons and sectioning units around our regionsor provinces.
It is ridiculous that the Govt is planning to build a jail/prison in Nyanza yet they have abandoned some of the major industries that should boost the region economically….
I wonder what they think about KICOMI which collapsed several years back.
The 300M they talk about could at least do some meaningful ground work to revive the factory, and the 600 guys who could be languishing in that damn prison could be employed at KICOMI.
Where are our leaders to reject this mockery of the Luo community! Eng. Rege, rise up and reject this “ayany on joluo and jo-karachuonyo”
it has been very sad for the goverment to continue offering textile courses in our tertiary and coleges only to produce desperate professional engineers ,designer of fashion yet our so call goverment still source their products from foreign countries more so India which was in the same bar with kenya in development some few years ago. The frustration us young kenyans face is much such that if they do not address the issue of jobs and schedulling of course only to produce some despirate kenyans is rediculus and that building prison will only belong to young kenyan.It is shame fro the kenyan goverment. lets speak out on the same issues and elect young poor kenyans to our parliament they pass bill that only concern their stomach which start protruding days after swearingh in to power.
korir nairobi
Kodiaga has killed very many of my relatives,being an okeu Seme.I pray that this doesn’t become another slaughter house for clearing my rogue brothers in Nyanza.
Prisons in Kenya face great mismanagement,thus to me it is not something I can be proud of.It would be a bright idea to take it to North Eastern,I don’t know why!
I am a missionary preparing to relocate to Muhoroni and will be involved in assisting a local ministry there. In the United States I do prison ministry. It is a great outreach and we have seen men’s and women’s lives totally changed and reformed through the gospel, practical application of its teachings, and those accepting Christ and learning to live for Him. In one of the state prisons here, a former inmate was given permission to wed the chaplain’s daughter because the man had such a remarkable transformation in his life and lived his Christian witness, making a lasting change and positive impact upon his community and becoming a model citizen.
My plea would be to seriously view prison ministry as an opportunity to witness and see marvelous changes that the regular forms of rehabilitation do not & cannot yield.
I look forward to the time when I am able to serve the penal system in Africa as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ and help to get your people established on a morally, ethically, and sound foundation, bringing great changes to people’s lives and your nation’s good and the general welfare of the people. God bless you and the Kenya I love. Erokamano ahinya!
Sincerely, Rev. William Bradley
William Bradley Ministries, Inc.
2608 W. Kenosha #160
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, USA 74012