Highlands officers praise acting CS commissioner

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Monday 12th December 2011

CORRECTIONAL Services (CS) officers in the Highlands
region have thanked acting CS Commissioner Martin Balthazar for creating an internal transitional management committee to weed outcorruption.
The officers commended Balthazar for removing CS executives who had been implicated in misconduct
and abuse of office cases.
The officers were responding to a report in the Post-Courier last Wednesday on the suspension of CS deputy commissioner based on the National Security Advisory Committee on
the escape of William Kapris and 11 others from maximum security in Bomana in last
year.
A concerned senior CS officer who did not want to be named spoke on behalf of the Highlands
officers, saying corruption started at the
top level and most
prisons operations in the country had been affected.
He said a few officers tarnished the good name of the service through their greed.
The officer said all those implicated should be referred to police for investigation and possible prosecution.
He said officers working in the prisons
raised many concerns on issues new staff uniforms, pay rise, travelling allowances, overtime claims, and staff appraisals but these had never been attended to by the former management.
He said the morale of officer had dropped resulting in many prison breakouts.
He urged Balthazar to investigate all contracts awarded by the former management for rehabilitation of
jailsthroughoutthecountry.
The officer said many contractors engaged in the jails rehabilitation exercise had left pro­jects incomplete but had been paid.