DP KITHURE KINDIKI PRESIDES OVER PASSING OUT PARADE OF 36 KENYA PRISONS CADETS
By Nicholas Kigondu
The government has reaffirmed its commitment to correctional reforms focused on improving the welfare of officers, prison conditions and prioritizing holistic rehabilitation of offenders.
Speaking at the Prison Staff Training College in Ruiru during the 27th passing out parade of 36 Kenya Prisons Cadets, Deputy President Professor Kithure Kindiki said the government is implementing comprehensive reforms that will present a paradigm shift in the country’s prison and correctional system.
He said correctional services was no longer at the margins of the justice sector but a key player in national development, a reality that has seen the government invest heavily in the modernization of correctional facilities as well as in the welfare of its human resource.
He urged the graduating officers to uphold integrity, patriotism and fidelity to the law and the Constitution.
Speaking at the same ceremony, Interior and National Administration Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said the government intends to upscale government programmes within correctional services to the next level in line with the government’s development agenda even as he lauded the leadership at the state department for implementing progressive reforms.
The Deputy President at the same time flagged off forty-one vehicles meant to expand the service operation of the Kenya Prisons Service promising that the government is in the process of acquiring more vehicles for the department.
The 27th Cadets Cohort, which has been trained to undertake middle-management responsibilities, comprises thirty-six cadet officers with diverse professional backgrounds in pharmacy, architecture, engineering, statistics, psychology, information science, and quantity surveying.
Their training combined academic instruction, practical exposure and field-based learning including weaponry, physical training, drill, and basic tactics with the academic curriculum covering prisons administration, security, law, human rights, government regulations, and ethics.
Among those who attended the ceremony included Correctional Services Principal Secretary Dr. Salome Beacco, Interior PS Dr. Raymond Omollo, Parliamentary Affairs PS Dr. Aurelia Rono, Senate Standing Committee on National Security, Defence, and Foreign Relations chairperson Fatuma Dullo, Commissioner General of Prisons Patrick Aranduh, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, Ruiru MP Simon King’ara and Kiambu Woman Representative Anne Wamuratha.