Hon. Edna Goes to Prison

Hon. Edna Goes to Prison

The Member of Parliament for Momo East Constituency, Mbengwi, Honourable Edna Enih Mbah has been to the Mbengwi principal prison to commune with the inmates. The visit was her last intervention in her constituency as parliamentarian, hours to the March 22nd 2020 parliamentary election rerun in Momo division. Upon stepping out of the prison gates, one of the inmates offered the M.P a flower to show love.

Welcoming their august guest and delegation on Saturday March 21st 2020, the inmates chanted songs of praise and worship. This was followed by a word of exhortation from the Reverend Enongene Nelson, parish pastor of Presbyterian Church, Station Congregation who centred his message on love, encouraging the inmates to love their colleagues and the warders. They were also advised not to give up hope especially as their destiny can only be delayed, not denied, according to God's plan. 

"People have left prison to be great and successful persons in society" Rev. Nelson told the inmates and reiterated that a prison is for correction not  condemnation and that some of the people strolling around seemingly in liberty are more prisoners than them who are in cells. 

The M.P & her flower

When Honourable Edna took to the rostrum, she tuned her own chorus and as the voices died down, she then explained the purpose of her coming. "I am here to fulfil a promise I made to you guys last year because a promise is a debt" Edna told them. She insisted that being a political period and still gunning for a second mandate, her visitation shouldn't be misconstrued for campaign because the law itself prohibits prisoners from voting but she rather came to share love with the inmates.

In December 2019, the M.P clocked 50. She had planned celebrating her 50th anniversary with the elderly, the underprivileged and prisoners but because of unforseen inconveniences, she couldn't execute the plan. As such, after a long postponement, she had to finally realise the plan. After her address, the MP offered the inmates material assistance made up of bags of rice, salt, soap, vegetable and palm oil with a promise to come again in the near future. 

While thanking the donor, the inmate's representative appreciated the gesture saying apart from the food items, the message of love and hope they got was so touching and has sunk deep into them. The Mbengwi principal prison superintendent, Kobi Stanley Tayong also gave a vote of thanks to the parliamentarian. He said it's been long, close to a year that such a humanitarian gesture was carried out in the prison circles. The superintendent assured the visitors that the prison authorities are always ready to welcome well wishers, individuals, families, institutions and groups that want to reach out to the inmates. 

The visit to the Mbengwi principal prison gave Mbengwi Online the opportunity to have first hand information on how life is within the confines of the structure. The inmates, all boys and few men are not much, estimated to be at most 25. Putting on clean dresses, they looked neat and healthy, indicating their living conditions aren't precarious. The prison environment itself was seen clean with no littering of dirt. Despite all these, the prison remains a place not to be. The wish of all the inmates is to one day regain their freedom.