PAC Declares Prisons Chief Wandika Phiri Competent

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has declared Chief Commissioner of the Malawi Prisons Service (PS) Grace Wandika Phiri competent.

This follows the meeting the committee held today in Lilongwe in which Wandika Phiri was summoned to respond on allegations that inmates are smuggling phones in the country’s prisons which they use to steal from people

It is also alleged that some prison officers and visitors are also involved in the deals of smuggling phones and sim-cards in prisons.

According to reports, the malpractice is mainly happening at Zomba Maximum Prison in which they use mobile wallets namely, Mpamba and Airtel to steal from people.

According Joyce Chitsulo, PAC’s chairperson, after hearing from Wandika Phiri,  they decided to decided to declare her competent as they were convinced with efforts she is putting to address the situation.

Chitsulo then added that the Committee also noted security gaps as visitors are manually searched posing a higher chance of smuggling unwanted things in prisons without being caught.

She then expressed a need to allocate more funds to address security issues at the entrance of the country’s prisons so that detective devices are placed.