Prisoner breaks accounting barrier

Published on 15/02/2010 ; Standard Newspaper By Antony Gtionga A life-sentence prisoner has achieved what many students of accounts fail to accomplish in a lifetime. The prisoner, at Naivasha Maximum Security Prison, has qualified as a Certified Public Accountant-Kenya (CPA-K), a feat that many students of the discipline only dream of. Thirty-two-year-old Peter Kamau Ndung’u, formerly on death row but now serving life, has managed to acquire papers that can qualify him to work for any of the major accounting firms. Without a tutor or guidance, the prisoner who has been behind bars for ten years took only three years to accomplish what takes some college students over ten years to finish. Kamau who was previously waiting for the hangman’s noose, until a presidential clemency last year commuted his sentence to life imprisonment, now says he feels like a free man. He will likely go into the Guinness Book of World Records as the only prisoner to accomplish such a feat anywhere. He received his CPA part III section (VI) credentials inside the penal institution. Over 90 per cent of accounts students have to re-sit several papers along the way but Kamau never had a referral despite the harsh conditions under which he has learnt. "I used my knowledge and the few books in the prison library that I could get to achieve my lifelong dream," he said. His achievement was met by surprise and admiration by established accountants and the Naivasha prison administration. According to Mr Joseph Muchinah, a senior accountant with Delamere Estates: "I know many people in colleges who dropped midway when they fail to make it in accounts". A student of accounts cannot proceed to the next level until they pass the Kenya Accountants and Secretaries National Examination Board (Kasneb) prepared exams. "I also had to repeat one section. Unlike with other exam bodies, Kasneb cannot allow one to proceed to the next stage until you pass in one," Muchinah said. "Imagine how he would have performed if he was free with all the back up!" he wondered. A fourth-born in a family of ten, he finished his secondary school in Karigu-ini secondary school in Murang’a in 1996 and scored a ‘C Plus’. "I came from a poor family and I was forced to get a transfer from Siakago Secondary School in form two as my parents could not afford the school fees there," he said. Casual jobs His parents could not afford taking him to college after his secondary education and he turned to casual jobs to earn a living. In mid 1999, he was arrested and charged with robbery with violence, after an attack in his home area. During their interrogations, two of the suspects died in the hands of the police. "Their families protested against the deaths and the officers had to frame us so that they could justify the deaths," he said. In September, 2000, aged 22 years, he was sentenced to death by the High Court in Nyeri. "It felt like I was in a bad dream and I was confused but one thing that I remember most was the tears flowing down the cheeks of my mother," he said, weeping. After one year at Nyeri’s King’ong’o Prison, Kamau applied for a transfer to the Naivasha Prison so that he could study. Between 2001 and 2004, he sat for various single and group courses and passed. Between January 2006 to December last year, he sat for CPA part I section I to CPA part III section VI without getting any referral in any paper. His appeal against the death sentence was thrown out just a few days before he was to seat for his final Kasneb exams last year. He thanks Strathmore University, the Prison Department and a donor who paid all his exam fees for giving him a chance to learn. Kamau adds that ten years in prison has changed his life saying his dream is to attain a Bachelor of Commerce, Accounts Option. "I have consumed enough of the taxpayer’s money and my humble appeal is to be pardoned so that I can now work and pay taxes like other Kenyans," he said. The officer in-charge of the prison, Patrick Mwenda commended the inmate saying he is the first prisoner in the country’s history to achieve such results. Mwenda said he will present Kamau’s case to the Prisons Board of Appeal saying the inmate deserves a second chance. "I appeal to donors to come forward and assist this young man pursue his life-long dream as he has shown he can perform," said Mwenda. Obeying rules Mwenda was full of praise for the inmate who is a ‘trustee’ in the prison saying that he has never contravened the rules. His sentiments were echoed by the prison Welfare Officer, Douglas Mugendi who said inmates in education programme have the capacity to perform even better. He says prisoners involved in studies face shortage of learning materials adding that the programme should be considered under the Free Primary of Secondary Education programmes. "This has proved that prisons are now acting as rehabilitation centres and can produce qualified personnel just like universities and colleges," he said.

Source: SALO (2010-02-18)