Botswana: Botswana Prison Service Commissioner Dinah Marathe addressed the officers at the Prison Staff College on Thursday. Commissioner Marathe emphasizes the need for alignment between the learning centre’s responsibilities and the attributes and attitudes of the instructors to ensure the delivery of high-quality training programmes for the officers.
She reminded them that they are responsible to mould and produce men and women of integrity, who are fit for purpose and are ready to serve the nation diligently and with dignity. “This is a measure which we need to constantly review and capacitate you to perform up to the desired standards in order to achieve our mandate as a Service,” she said.
Commissioner Marathe underscored that as new entrants into the system, the trainees would always look up to the instructors as their role models who provide mentorship and direction. She reiterated that instructors and the entire College staff should inspire the trainees so that they make the right life choices positive changes, and strive toward new goals both for their own lives and the Prison Service.
“๐๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ต๐ข๐ง๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ง๐ถ๐ญ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด,” she said.
Moreover, the Commissioner challenged them to always lead by example and desist from issues of absenteeism, questionable sick leaves and other breaches of discipline. They were cautioned that this kind of behaviour would not only rub off on the trainees but is also an eyesore as it tarnishes the good name of the Service.
She pointed out that the Prison Service is committed to achieving a culture of high performance; hence everyone must ensure that whatever they do on or off duty must resemble such.
“๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ด๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ,” she advised.
The Commissioner further stated that as think tanks of the Service, the College Staff should embrace a culture of reading and inform themselves about the current trends in criminal space. She implored them to be up-to-date and conversant with new technologies, particularly on cybercrime so that they could detect and deter such activities before they could enter the prisons.
The officers were urged to come up with new programmes tailor-made for the inmates, which could be included in the curriculum, especially for the young offenders, so as to shape their futures. The Commissioner said all these initiatives are embraced in the President’s Reset Agenda, particularly Priority 5 (Mindset Change) and Priority 3 (Digitization).
Meanwhile, the Commissioner applauded the Officers at the College for having all joined the Prison Service Welfare Scheme.
“๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด,” said Commissioner.
She highlighted that the other initiative under the Welfare Scheme is the Physical Fitness, Sports and Social Responsibility Programme, which will promote participation in sports and physical fitness while at the same time addressing the social needs of officers in times of need.
The Commissioner also apprised the officers on the new developments among others procurement of specialized escort vehicles, the process to introduce the Prison Air Wing, the procurement of Integrated Prison Security Solution (IPSS) and staff accommodation.