Hoog bezoek in Mikuyu 1

Dinsdag 3 december bracht een delegatie van het Mozambikaanse gevangeniswezen een bezoek aan de gevangenis in Mikuyu 1. Het boomkwekerijtje, een van de eerste die is opgestart, oogstte veel bewondering. Het is heel bemoedigend dat het boomplanten zoveel positieve aandacht krijgt en dat het boomplanten ook iets is waar de Malawi Prisons Service trots op is.

Hier het persbericht dat de MPS uitbracht:

MOZAMBIQUE DELEGATES IMPRESSED WITH MIKUYU 1 PRISON FARM'S AGRICULTURAL INNOVATIONS.

By: Sgt Anderson Likaomba, PRO Mikuyu 1 Prison Farm.

On December 3, 2025, a high-level delegation from Mozambique Penitentiary Service, led by Chief Inspector Samuel Simbe, visited Mikuyu 1 Prison Farm to appreciate the facility's agricultural innovations and rehabilitation programs.  

The delegation was escorted by Commissioner responsible for Rehabilitation, Reformation and Prison Industries, Counsel Bazirial Chapuwala, and Eastern Region Commanding Officer, Mr. Thomas Damba (DCP).

Other officers that escorted Commissioner Chapuwala included Deputy Farms Manager, Onil M. Kambirinya, and Head of Protocol and International Relations, Elizabeth Matandika, among others.

RCO Damba warmly welcomed Commissioner Chapuwala and the visitors to the facility and informed them that the station is one of the food baskets in department and the country as a whole. He expressed gratitude to Commissioner Chapuwala for choosing Mikuyu 1 Prison Farm for the benchmarking exercise.

Mr. Damba said they were proud to showcase their agricultural innovations and reformation programmes to the Mozambican delegates. On his part, Officer In-charge, Senior Superintendent Samson Zwangeti thanked Commissioner Chapuwala and the delegates for taking their time to visit his station.

He said as of December 3, 2025 the station had a total of 383 male convicted prisoners, and staff strength of 132.

He said the station has an arable land of 300 hectares, 90 percent of which is used for crops growing such as Maize, and Pigeon peas, among others.

He added that 5 percent of the land is used for woodlot which is surrounding the premises of the station, and that 5 percent is used for horticultural crops, where vegetables are grown using Irrigation system.

 He said their focus is on scaling up agriculture as one of the rehabilitation tools, which he said, is yielding positive results, with many offenders successfully reintegrating into their communities as productive citizens.

 Zwangeti then led Commissioner Chapuwala and the delegates on the tour of the farm, where they witnessed various innovative agricultural practices and rehabilitation programs. During the tour, Commissioner and the delegates were shown a water system powered by electricity with 2 water tanks that supply water to the main prison and one of the irrigation site. He also showed them a pond where they have started doing fish farming, agroforestry initiative where a total of 1768 tree seedlings were successfully planted around their farm.

Commissioner Chapuwala said he was honored to be at Mikuyu 1 Prison alongside Chief Inspector Simbe and Mr. Damba, to witness the remarkable work being done at the facility. He said he is impressed by the agricultural innovations and rehabilitation programs the station is implementing.

"Your self-sufficiency in food production and reintegration initiatives are exemplary. This is why our friends from Mozambique have come here for the benchmarking exercise so that they can learn a thing or two from you and implement them when they go back to their country," he said. He said the department has already procured machinery and mobile water tanks which will help to boost agricultural activities at Mikuyu 1 Prison Farm through irrigation.

Chief inspector Simbe hailed Commissioner Chapuwala and Mr. Damba as well as the station management for warmly welcoming them as well as showing them different reformation and rehabilitation programmes at the station.

"We are very impressed by what we have seen today here. We have learnt a lot from you," he said.