A nominated Member of County Assembly from Busia has urged both the County and National government to consider establishing separate rooms for children living with their mothers in prisons.
Speaking during celebrations to mark the International Women’s Day at Korinda Women’s prison on Friday, Beatrice Opwapo pointed out that mothers lack privacy especially when they want to dress up.
‘So, I would like the government to establish separate rooms so that their mothers can have some privacy,’ she said.
Opwapo further stated that there was need to ensure that such children are given special diet so that they can have healthy growth.
“These are children and they have a right to healthy diet just like other children living normal lives at home,’ she said.
The lawmaker at the same time implored the government to establish play grounds so that the children can play around freely.
The MCA promised to table a motion at the County Assembly with a view to coming up with a policy aimed at supporting female inmates.
‘We are going to draft a policy to support mothers who live with their children at the correctional facilities,” she said.
The officer in charge of Korinda Main Prison, Elisha Odende urged the female inmates to use their stay at the facility to change their ways.
Odende encouraged them to utilise skills earned from the institution as a means of income generation and avoid falling back to criminal activities.
‘As we talk now, we have 11 men pursuing bachelors’ degrees in different fields after passing through prison,’ he said.
The officer in charge of Korinda Women’s prison, Patricia Makali urged the female inmates to embrace forgiveness instead of nursing bitterness against those who wronged them.
The forum was attended by various religious groups who donated food and nonfood items to the inmates to mark the International Women’s Day.
In line with the theme of this year’s celebration, inspire and inclusion, the religious leaders took time to sensitise the male inmates to understand women so that they can reduce gender-based violence and other atrocities related to it.
By Salome Alwanda
