PRESS STATEMENT
WHERE ARE THE REFORMS, MR. AWORI?
The deaths, on Monday, of five inmates at the Meru GK Prison have cast doubts over the reforms currently being undertaken on the country’s prisons by the Ministry of Home Affairs under which the correctional institutions fall. The shocking and saddening deaths bring us to a cruel conclusion that the reforms have been nothing but a fuss.
Without doubt Vice-President Moody Awori has come to be associated with the humanisation of our totally dehumanising correctional institutions since Narc took power from Kanu. However, the information incrementally seeping from this saddening incident in regard to the conditions of the Meru prison, and by extension many other prisons around the country, can mean only one thing: that the reforms have been superficial.
We have been confronted every day by scenes of happy prisoners talking to government officials in unbelievably comfortable surroundings. Beauty peagents and recreation have become the order of the day every time the VP visits one prison or the other. The inevitable and logical conclusion now is that these have been stage-managed incidents meant to deceive the public that the reforms were bearing fruit.
As we haggle over the cause(s) of death of the inmates and over who should take blame for the same, we must not loose sight of the fact that the conditions under which the prisoners were confined prior to their deaths approximated a death sentence. In deed, whether they were killed by prison wardens or whether they suffocated to death, the fact of the matter is that they had already been sentenced to death by the mere fact of being confined in such terrible conditions.
CLARION joins other Kenyans in mourning the senseless deaths of these Kenyans. It is even more saddening considering that, as reported by the press, all the dead were being held on petty offences such as brewing and possession of illicit liquor. We aver that even criminals and suspected criminals have a right to the protection of the State as they await rehabilitation. The right to life is not negotiable!
Investigating the cause of the deaths is not enough; Kenyans must demand and be told what actions will be taken to avoid such unnecessary deaths in future and to restore the faith Kenyans are supposed to have in these institutions. The terrible and frightening King’ong’o experience is still fresh in our minds. Inevitably, this terrible scene will be played out again.
Visits by officials of the statutory Kenya National Commission on Human Rights will not mean much and will be a waste of resources if two years down the line other Kenyans will suffer the same fate. We call upon the Chairman of the Commission, Mr Maina Kiai, to release a statement on this terrible incident and address the fears of Kenyans on the recurrence of this horrible incident.
Signed on behalf of CLARION:
Morris Odhiambo,
Deputy Executive Director
