Malawi Prisons Service has decried dwindling budgetary allocations in the past three years, saying the situation has adversely impacted on its operations and establishments.

Prison authorities expressed their frustrations during a meeting with a Joint Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs and Social and Community Affairs alongside the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) in Zomba.

Prisoners jostle to receive food in this file photo

Data presented during the meeting showed that in the 2020/21 financial year, Prisons requested K2.6 billion but received K1.56 billion while in the 2021/22 financial year, its budget was also K2.6 billion, but were instead allocated K1.52 billion. In the current fiscal year, government has allocated K1.3 billion to Prisons against its requested K2.8 billion.

The meeting, organised by Centre for Human Rights Education, Advice and Assistance (Chreaa), followed reports of food shortages in the country’s prisons. Other challenges are that Prisons authorities were forced to cut on their expenditure which, in turn, compromised inmates’ welfare and the general operations of the establishments.

In an interview on the sidelines of the meeting, Assistant Commissioner of Prisons Harrings Nyalugwe said the reduced funding has choked their operations.

He said: “The inadequate funding has affected us in our daily operations because we are failing to take care of our prisoners. This is why we have issues of food scarcity at times and balances in bills we have to pay.”

Nyalugwe, who is also the officer-in-charge of Zomba Central Prison, said if prisons received adequate funding, most of the challenges such as the recent food shortages would be averted.

Following the food challenges, the Prisons Service procured 25 000 bags of maize to address.

But Nyalugwe said while the maize would help address the food shortages, it is still not adequate as it will only last up to February 2023.

He said dietary challenges resulting from inadequate funding put at risk inmates that are on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and tuberculosis (TB) medication which require one to have good nutrition.

The joint committee noted that due to the funding gaps in prisons, inmates have been struggling to access basic needs such as food and water as water boards cut their upply due to unpaid bills.

Parliamentary Committee on Social and Community Affairs chairperson Savel Kafwafwa described the prisoners’ living conditions as a violation of their rights as enshrined in the country’s Constitution.

He said: “As a committee, we will work with relevant committees [of Parliament] to lobby for more funding as prison facility budget deficits have potential to worsen the living conditions of inmates.”

On his part, Chreaa monitoring and evaluation manager Siphiwe Malihera said they hope the funding challenges will be discussed in Parliament during the Mid-Term Budget Review Meeting in November.

“As a human rights organisation, our aim is to promote and protect human rights and that’s why we thought of linking up with relevant parliamentary committees and we are hopeful that the issues raised will be tackled in Parliament,” he said

MHRC director for civil and political rights Peter Chisi appealed to government to urgently address the funding challenges.

Prisons authorities said there are 16 640 inmates in the country’s prisons against a holding capacity of 5 000 prisoners.

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