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Rev. Dr Stephen Wengam

Prisons Service needs GH¢25m to improve conditions

Ghana needs GH¢25 million annually for the next 10 years to be able to transform the conditions in the 43 prisons in the country.

The Current GH¢180,000 received by the Prisons Service Council for upgrading the conditions in the prisons is inadequate, considering the economic conditions in the country.

The Lead Pastor of the Cedar Mountain Chapel (CMC) of the Assemblies of God, and Chairman of the Prisons Service Council, Rev. Dr Stephen Wengam, said the condition in the prisons was substandard and needed to be improved.

 

He was speaking shortly after the CMC held a thanksgiving service to climax its fifth anniversary last Sunday.

“The government’s budgetary allocation is so paltry. It cannot support the prisons council. That is why we are calling on all people and organisations to contribute to Project Efiase so that we can improve upon our prisons,” he said.

 

Project Efiase

Project Efiase is an initiative by the Prisons Service Council that seeks to raise funds from individuals, religious bodies and corporate institutions, to provide basic facilities that will make life bearable in the country’s prisons.

 It is a component of a 10-year strategy to transform the conditions in the prisons.

Under the project, Ghanaians are encouraged to donate their widow’s mite to support prisoners.

 

Support from the public

Rev. Wengam stressed the need for corporate bodies, organisations and individuals to augment government’s efforts by resourcing the skills training centres to make the prisoners useful after life in prison.

He noted that the prison was a place for reformation of character but if the conditions were not improved, the inmates would eventually leave there unreformed and be a threat to society.

They could also acquire chronic diseases that would put everyone at health risk, he added.

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