President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday, August 13, announced that the proverbial 40 days would soon catch up to Kamiti Prison phone scammers.
Speaking at the 44th Prisons Pass-out Parade at Prisons Staff Training College, Ruiru, the head of state noted that the correctional facilities had acquired equipment to nab the perpetrators.
He stated that a number of prisons in the country had enhanced surveillance systems on the inmates with signal jammers and CCTV cameras to monitor their activities.
"With these innovations and high tech equipment under the watchful eye of the prison officers, the common scam of 'kupokea simu ya kamiti' (a phone call from Kamiti) will be a thing of the past," he stated.
The president further commended the Department of State Protection for enhancing production lines for their role in promoting local manufacturing in the production number of plates.
The President rallied against the use of retribution, punishment, condemnation, stigmatization and pain on offenders saying Kenya Prisons must mainstream restorative justice in their reform role.
"It is not about punishing the prisoner, condemning and stigmatizing him with painful methods. It is about repairing his humanity and restoring his God given goodness.
"And as we commission you as new recruits into the National Prisons Service, I want you to embrace this emerging order of restoration as opposed to the colonial relic of stigmatization of wrong doers," the President told the 3000 officers.
The Kamiti phone scam is a well-known scheme to many mobile phone users who have received messages purporting to be from bank managers and telco companies.
Some of the convicts have been quoted to have made as much as Ksh 500,000 through the scheme.
"With the money, I can run my businesses without being detected. I have bought matatus, built houses and bought land through third parties in various parts of the country. If I leave this place, I am sure that I will be richer than I could have imagined while outside," an inmate disclosed in a previous interview.
Most scams are when they inform a user that they had won cash prizes, especially from mobile service providers.
“It was easy for us to con someone by telling them they won a cash prize. The huge amounts mentioned confuse the individual into believing the trick,” a former inmate confessed.
Watch the video of President Uhuru speaking on Kamiti prison scammers below:
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