Written by Richard Kayenda
Lowly ranked prison warders in the country have today started to down their tools in a bid to demand government to give them money in form of risk allowances, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and also promote them.
A snap short survey Maravi Post conducted this morning, has shown that the junior officers from Mzimba, Maula in Lilongwe, Kasungu and Zomba Prisons, have closed gates to the prisons and are not allowing anyone entry into the premises.
One of the officers who spoke to Maravi Post on the condition of anonymity said early last year, government promised to promote them, but since then no one of them received any promotion unlike their counterparts from Malawi Police Service (MPs) who got promoted last year; despite spending a short period of time in the service.
However, Spokesperson for Prison Services Department in the country, Chimwemwe Shaba, has said these officers have not followed right channels in exhausting their concerns, and that their top management is already in talks with government to address the concerns.
Reports indicate that the government allocated money to Malawi Defense Force, Malawi Police Service (MPS) and Immigration and Citizenship Services to be used for patrols as one way of intercepting illegal immigrants who may necessitate further spread of Covid 19 pandemic in Malawi