The government says it will commence the construction of 2000 housing units for Zambia Correctional Service ( ZCS ) personnel, across the country.
ZCS Commission Chairperson Evaristo Kalonga who is on the tour of the Eastern Province says the construction of the 2000 housing units is meant to address the accommodation challenges, especially for the newly recruited officers.
Mr Kalonga who is on a provincial tour of correctional facilities in the region also disclosed that Katete has been allocated 36 out of the planned 2000 housing units.
“Government has given the Zambia Correctional Service countrywide 2000 housing units, so the issue of accommodation will be a thing of the past. Officer in charge you have been allocated 36 housing units, so just identify where you are going to build those houses,” he said.
Currently, Katete District has six housing units against a total of 33 uniformed and non-uniformed staff.
The new dawn government in line with its campaign pledges to improve the well-being of inmates serving custodial sentence has so far bought beds and blankets in most correctional facilities, country-wide.
“The government has bought 25,000 mattresses, 50,000 blankets so that each inmate has two blankets, then 12,500 banker beds,” ZCS Commission Chairperson said.
The Katete Correctional Facility currently has 381 inmates out of which 266 are Zambians, while 115 are foreign nationals that include 71 Ethiopians, 40 Malawians, three Mozambicans, and one Tanzanian.
Meanwhile, Vice Commission Chairperson Sibote Sibote has challenged the Katete Correctional Service to expand its facility by using the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
He said the purpose of decentralisation was to ensure that the people at the grassroots level are in charge of their development.
“The President has been telling us, long before, that resources will be moved from Lusaka to all the 156 constituencies so that people can decide their development priorities.
“ In this regard, we want to decongest the correctional facilities; we need to build even one extra dormitory, which we can apply under the CDF,” he said.
