Botswana: The complex and challenging mandate of the Botswana Prison Service requires Officers to be physically and psychologically prepared to deliver to the best of their abilities.ย
Speaking on the 1st edition of the ‘Biggest Loser Weight Loss Challenge’ award ceremony in Gaborone today, Commissioner of Prisons – Commissioner Dinah Marathe has implored Prison Officers to shift mindsets towards maintaining healthy lifestyles for improved organizational performance.ย
She pointed out that the rise of non-communicable diseases that are linked to obesity among the society’s population is attributed to poor eating habits and lack of exercise.ย
“๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ช๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐บ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ดโฆ๐๐ด ๐ข ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ช๐ฎ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ง ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ช๐ต,” she said.ย
Commissioner Marathe highlighted that the exercise is in alignment with the National Mindset Change Campaign, which was recently launched by the President of the Republic of Botswana, Dr Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi, under the Slogan “A re chencheng”.ย
She said the A re chencheng Campaign was meant to foster, nurture and instil beliefs and attitudes that will encourage everyone to act more efficiently and productively.
“The Biggest Loser” she said, is one of the many initiatives that the Prison Service will continue to implement in order to grow and remodel its workforce towards building a high-performance culture.
The Commissioner expressed her gratitude to Toshiba Botswana, who sponsored the challenge. She said the sponsorship motivated many of the officers to take part in the challenge, thus contributing to a physically and mentally fit workforce.ย
She stated that as a sponsor and partner, Toshiba Botswana’s financial contribution is vital to the Service’s goal of inculcating a high-performance culture among Prison Officers.ย
Commissioner Marathe also extended her thankfulness to the Officers who took part in the challenge. She said that alone is evident that they genuinely desire to alter their way of life and enhance their wellness.ย
Commissioner Marathe emphasized that this was not only a competition but a challenge meant to inspire all officers to change their lifestyles through healthy eating, regular exercising and improved mental well-being.ย
She congratulated the winners of this year’s challenge and implored them and maintain the standards. She also encouraged those who did not win any prize not to lose hope as there will be many more opportunities coming to prove their mettle.ย
“๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ถ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ,” she said.
On giving his remarks, the Managing Director of Toshiba Botswana, Nigel Munro, congratulated all officers who took part in the challenge. He said it was not an easy challenge, but discipline and determination helped the Officers to pull through despite the challenges presented.ย
Munro thanked Commissioner Marathe and her team for working hard to make sure the initiative was a success. He emphasized the importance of the challenge as everyone was a winner.ย
“๐๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ค๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ด ๐ท๐ฐ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต,” he said.ย
On giving her appreciation speech, the overall winner of the challenge, Assistant Principal Officer Milliah Mmui, expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the Commissioner for coming up with such an enterprising initiative. She said the challenge boosted her morale and confidence.ย
“๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐บ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ, ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ด,” she said.ย
She stressed that her love and passion for sports pushed her to enter and complete the challenge.ย
APO Mmui urged fellow officers to take physical training seriously and treat it as a lifestyle but not a competition.ย
“๐๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ด ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ,” she said.ย
The three month programme saw a total of seventy-eight (78) officers completing the challenge. All were successful in losing weight, with the biggest loser shedding off 16.5 kg.ย ย
1st Prize –ย Assistant Principal Officer Milliah Mmui
– Lost 16.5 kg (P2,500 and a Certificate)ย
2nd Prize –ย Assistant Superintendent Phillip Mokotoย
Lost 14 kg (P1,500 and a Certificate)
3rd Prize –ย Senior Superintendent Tlhagiso Nyati – Lost 13 kg (P1000 and a Certificate) –ย
Commissioner’s Award – Senior Superintendent Kebonyethebe Harry – Lost 11 kg (P500)
‘๐๐ก๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ง๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐๐ง ๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ซ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค!’