Botswana: The Commissioner of Prisons – Commissioner Dinah Marathe had this morning engaged in a meet and greet session with the newly appointed Botswana Prison Service National Parole Board in Gaborone. The brief session saw the Commissioner welcome in a special way the incoming Chairperson and other Board members.
On giving her welcome remarks, Commissioner Marathe said Parole is one of the early release programs which enhances the reintegration process by giving offenders the opportunity to interact with members of the community even before the completion of their sentences.
She pointed out that the Prison Service is committed to making thorough assessments of those who qualify for Parole, as well as facilitating their reconciliation process in readiness for their possible release.
Commissioner Marathe further highlighted that Parole serves as an encouragement tool towards behaviour modification for prisoners as โoneโs desire to benefit from the programme would encourage them to make greater efforts towards their rehabilitation.
The Parole Board, as stated by the Commissioner, has a huge mandate which calls for all members to be decisive when dealing with its matters, as their decisions have a bearing on the lives of victims, prisoners, their families and, in general, public safety and security.
โ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ธ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ด๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ณ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฌ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ด,โ she said.
She urged the Board members to be innovative and come up with new ideas and initiatives to enhance the performance of the Board. โ๐๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ดโฆโ she said.
On his reciprocal remarks, the incoming Board Chairperson, Hon. Justice Masilo Mathaka expressed his profound appreciation to Commissioner Dinah Marathe for a Meet and Greet Session following the appointments of the new Board members.
He said the session presents an opportunity for the Board to meet the leadership of the Ministry of Defence and Security (MDS) and Botswana Prison Service to share ideas and insights on the pertinent issues concerning the Board.
โ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ฎ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ,โ he said.
Hon. Justice Mathaka reiterated that the Board is tasked with the onerous task of ensuring that all individuals released on Parole would not in any manner jeopardise the safety of the nation. He, therefore, promised that they will remain resolute and committed in the execution of its mandate.
He implored other Members to be ready to serve the Board with diligence, knowing that they have to deliver quality service to Batswana bearing the recent โMindset Change Initiativeโ.
Giving some remarks earlier on, the Secretary for Safety and Security in the Ministry of Defence and Security, Kago Ramokate, said the new Board comes in at a time when the Ministry of Defence and Security and its Departments are on a journey of transformation as witnessed by the recent launch of the Ministryโs Mind Set Change Strategy.
He, therefore, expressed his belief that the Board will be equal to the task.
Ramokate further assured the Board that the Ministry will continue to support it through Botswana Prison Service, so that it delivers its mandate.