Inmates serving prison sentences in the country are eligible for parole provided they meet the requirements, since it is not a privilege for high profile individuals only as some people prefer to suggest.
“I sincerely encourage that inmates should apply for parole as their basic right provided they meet the requirements, since it is a way of decongesting the prisons which are currently overcrowded,” the Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Charles Kitwanga told the ‘Daily News’ recently.
The minister also said that for inmates who feel that they have been already transformed after serving some of their prison terms and feel that they can do community service instead should not hesitate to apply for parole.
However, he said that no matter how petty the crime is, still the law enforcement organs cannot ignore such crimes. “There are two ways of being given parole, one is through the Commissioner General of Prisons and the other is through the courts of law,” he said.
He said that in the case of Mramba and Yona (former politicians who were jailed), they had applied by filing an application to the courts which had sentenced them. He expounded further that the court upon receiving the application assesses and communicates with the prison and if they establish that such a person qualifies and has been behaving well, the court has the discretion to grant the parole.
On the other hand, he said, there is also an option of applying to the Commissioner General of Prisons who will assess and send recommendations to the Ministry of Home Affairs. If it is proved that the inmate is no longer a threat to the community, the convict is given a chance to do community service, he said.
“The law has to apply no matter how petty the crime is,” he said. On the issue of parole granted to inmates, he refuted claims that it was only high profile politicians who enjoyed this privilege.
“In Dar es Salaam Region there are more than 200 people who have been covered by the parole exercise,” he explained. He said that it was unfortunate that if politicians are granted parole, they receive a lot of publicity from the media.
“Because these politicians are prominent they are in the spotlight since they are high profile individuals,” he said. However, he said there are many people who are granted parole upon submitting their applications, but are not covered by the media. He explained that the former politicians are sick and qualify for the parole which was granted to them.
“They are above 70 years and the regulation that grant parole are very clear,” he said. He said that they had also stayed in prison and because they behaved well it was justified for them to be granted parole.
“It is very unfortunate that they happened to be politicians and the public perception was negative about them,” he said. The minister further clarified that the two were granted parole by a court order. But he also clarified that parole was not only a strategy of decongesting prisons.
“Assuming that prisons are not congested still a person can apply for parole,” said the minister. Meanwhile, the Ministry and Panel Reform International, a worldwide NGO based in London, have recently exchanged ideas and experiences on the issue of security and how the country can remain peaceful. Mr Kitwanga said that the discussions were centred on security and how the country can remain peaceful.
“It is how Tanzanians and everyone in the country can remain peaceful and enjoy the peace that existed since we got independence,” he explained. The minister said the reason why the talks centred on peace and tranquility is because such situation stops prevailing when there is violation of the laws of the country.
He said that such violations then call for either penalties which could be in form of fines or imprisonment. He said that Panel Reform International was equally interested in security and peace of the country as it is an improvement of prison systems.
“Both are within the same perimeters of peace, because whoever is breaking the law he or she has the intention of disrupting peace,” he argued. He said that the proper way of handling such a person is to send him or her for rehabilitation so that they can be reformed.
“First of all there is a need to have specialists in prisons, however there is still shortage of such experts,” he said.
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