Mutende Donates to Kamfinsa State Prison Inmates
The Mutende Community Service Group on 30th June 15, 2015 visited Kamfinsa State Prison in Kitwe and donated assorted items to inmates. About 1,000 inmates were in attendance. The prison currently has a population of 1,936 inmates, serving sentences ranging from 5 to 25 years for various offences.
Items donated included bedding, warm clothing to help beat the cold and toiletries. After the presentation of items, Mutende members joined their hosts in song and dance.
Speaking on behalf of the inmates, Peter Phiri, who is serving time for defilement, gave a vote of thanks summing up the feelings of the inmates: “We are thankful for your remembering to visit us. Most of the inmates are from remote places and do not have relatives within the Copperbelt to visit them.”
Phiri also thanked the facility’s Officer-in-Charge for its open door policy, which allowed companies and individuals to visit and encourage prisoners. He encouraged Mutende to continue with the good works because “the Bible says ‘give and it shall be given to you’”.
Officer-in-Charge, Joseph Kondoloni, said some inmates spent months or even years without being visited by their relatives. The gesture by Mutende Group, therefore, provided relief to the inmates. He commended CEC management for its support to Mutende Group, which support, he said, enabled and facilitated employees to help the underprivileged.
Kondoloni said the visit and donation were in obedience to Christian teaching.
“You are doing the Commission that Jesus gave you and fulfilling what our Lord Jesus Christ said, that I was in prison and you visited me, I was naked you clothed me. For this you will surely be rewarded in heaven”, he said.
Mutende Chairman, Morton M’gemezulu, informed the gathering that the group comprises over 50 members, all CEC employees, who contribute to assist the Vulnerable in society. The members have committed to exercise personal giving to compliment the Company’s Corporate Social Responsibility efforts. Members have seen it fit to support the company’s corporate responsibility activities by personally getting involved and committing their personal resources in support of the underprivileged.
Mutende is an employee-driven association of CEC employees who wish to contribute their time or resources, to the community around them. The Group was formed to respond to the problems in our community, problems that affect us all. As employees, Mutende members felt the need to do something to help those in need, to help alleviate some of their suffering. “This, we believe, would make us a better community”, said M’gemezulu.
M’gemezulu further stated that Mutende primarily sources its funds through member contributions and other fund-raising initiatives. He also acknowledged that CEC was very supportive the Group’s activities, for which he sincerely thanked management.
Notable representatives of CEC senior management staff (and also Mutende members) present at the occasion were Chief Legal Counsel/Company Secretary Mrs Julia Chaila and Human Resources Director Mr. John Simachembele.
By its support of Mutende, and facilitation of its visit to Kamfinsa Prison, CEC again exhibited its commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and particularly its desire to entrench the values of volunteerism and selflessness among its staff in service of the community and support and care to the vulnerable.
