Ecobank donates Covid-19 kit to Malawi prison service

Pan African banking giants Ecobank joined the fight in curbing the spread of Covid-19 when they donated buckets and sanitisers to 10 prisons in the country’s southern region.

Ecobank presented the donation to the prison service following a request from the Centre for Human Rights Education Advice and Assistance (CHREAA) who work with the prison service to protect and promote prisoners’ rights.

The bank’s marketing brands and communications manager Takondwa Chirwa said the bank took the decision after looking at how their gesture would go to curb the spread of coronavirus.

“The prisons are one of the places where people are congested as such there is a high risk of infections once a pandemic falls.There is need that during this Covid-19, the prisons ought to be taken care of. So,we decided to buy buckets and sanitisers for the prisons,” she said.

The bank donated 62 hand-washing buckets and 50 litres of sanitisers.

Malawi Prisons Service’s Julius Magombo noted that prisons are susceptible to the spread of infectious diseases due to the congested nature of the prisons.

“We have an overwhelming number of inmates in our prisons because the size of the prisons is the same despite the growing number of inmates. This brings lot of problems in terms of hygiene,” he said.

Magombo said the gesture by Ecobank would help promote hygiene in the prisons.

“Telling the prisoners to practice hygiene without providing them with the necessary tools does not make sense. Hence, this donation will help in spreading and promoting the message as well as ensuring everyone’s health in light of Covid-19” he said.

CHREAA executive director Victor Mhango explained that their call for help came about due to the dangers that inmates pose to the country should a pandemic reach the prisons.

“What happens in the prisons affects the whole country because once released, these inmates go back to their communities. So, if they get infected inside the prison and they are released, they will pose a serious danger to their communities,” he said.

“We work with prisoners everyday and what we saw in there was not very encouraging in light of the dangers that we face as a result of Covid-19,” he said.

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