AngloGold Ashanti refurbishes Tarkwa Local Prison infirmary
Tarkwa-based AngloGold Ashanti Iduapriem Limited has refurbished the infirmary of the Tarkwa Local Prison at an estimated cost of GH¢27, 683.36.
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Apart from stocking the pharmacy of the infirmary, the company also provided medical beds, stethoscopes and medical fridge to preserve drugs and vaccines and a swivel chair, among other items, with the objective of ensuring that the inmates would receive the best primary health care before referrals are made to further treatment.
The decision by the management of AngloGold to assist the local prison followed a request made by its authorities a year ago for infrastructural support to expand the overcrowded facility.
It was also in fulfilment of a commitment the company made to the authorities and the inmates.
Inauguration
The prison yard, with a total of 276, including 75 remands, was a cocoa shed during the colonial era before it was turned into a prison.
At the inauguration and handover of the facility and the drugs to the prison authorities in Tarkwa last Wednesday, the Managing Director of the company, Mr Jasper Musadaidzwa, said, "Our values and intent to partner the government, prompted and guided us to play a role."
He said beyond what had been done already, the company intended to re-equip the skills development centre at the prison to enable the inmates to acquire the needed handiwork so that they could successfully be reintegrated into society at the end of their various sentences.
Mr Musadaidzwa indicated that investing in health was part of the community development strategy of the company, and that over the years, some of the health-related initiatives the management had undertaken included the supply of intravenous medication to the Tarkwa Government Hospital.
In addition, he said his outfit organised periodic health outreach in its 19 host communities, constructed a Voluntary Counselling Testing Centre at the Tarkwa Hospital and sprayed households within the municipality through its Malaria Control programme called, AGAMAS.
Prison management
The officer incharge of the Tarkwa Local Prison, an Assistant Director of Prisons (ADP), Kwaku Ababio Ali, stated that prison management was shifting from a mere warehousing of convicted persons to an enhanced system of ensuring the welfare, undertaking reformation and training of inmates in employable skills so they would return to society with a changed mentality to also enter the job market.
A Divisional Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service, Rev. Fr Michael Nunoo, noted that prisons were not established for particular individuals and that anybody at all was a potential prisoner.
He, therefore, advised the inmates not to feel dejected since being in prison did not mean the end of their lives, saying, "just humble yourselves and be obedient to the authorities because one day you will go back but do not return to attack whoever made you come prison."
The Western Regional Commander of the Ghana Prisons Service, Deputy Director of Prisons (DDP), Nelson B. Duit, who chaired the function, appealed to the management of AngloGold to extend their gestures to the remaining four prisons in the region, including the Sekondi Central Prison since they all had numerous challenges and needed help.
