HARARE - The International Committee of Red Cross has assured the government that it will continue donating food to Zimbabwe Prisons until such time as it is able to give inmates the internationally recommended daily food allowances.Deputy Justice and Legal affairs Minister Obert Gutu quashed rumours that the ICRC had indicated that it planned to withdraw the support started two years ago.
I had a meeting recently with ICRC senior officials here who told me that they are not going to terminate their food donation programme to our prisons because the country is yet to sustain itself in that regard. They said they will only do so after the country fully recovers from the decade long economic turmoil it went through, said Gutu.
After a tour of the countrys prisons late last year, Gutu could not deny that the food situation in remained a challenge. Since April 2009, the ICRC has been providing food for Zimbabwe prisoners. Working with the prison authorities, the ICRC set up feeding programmes, improved cooking facilities and water systems in prisons throughout the county.
The organisation has promised that, once the food situation has stabilized, it will continue to assess conditions of detention, refurbish kitchen and sanitation facilities and upgrade water supply systems.
The Prison food donor says it will work to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases and ensures that inmates receive the treatment they require in the event of any outbreak of disease such as cholera.
Post published in: News