Prisons target agric to raise funds
The Director-General of Prisons, Isaac Kofi Egyir, has urged prison officers to make agriculture the panacea to the service’s financial challenges.
He said the service had a comparative advantage in the area of agriculture, with vast arable lands, constant labour and officers with professional agricultural background to help drive the ambition.
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Mr Egyir made the call when he paid a working visit to a number of prison farms as part of his tour of prisons establishments in the Ashanti Region.
The working visit took the Director-General of Prisons to the Obuasi Local, Ahinsan Camp, Ejura Camp and the Kumasi Central and Female Prisons.
Collaboration
Mr Egyir disclosed that the Prisons Service was collaborating with some strategic partners to expand its agricultural production, with one of such partnerships already in operation on a pilot basis at Nsawam, Kpando and Ejura.
He said the partner organisation would provide funding and resources, while the Prisons Service would provide land, labour and expertise to complement the partnership.
Mr Egyir encouraged officers to put their shoulders to the wheel and rally behind the prisons administration in its drive to embark on pragmatic measures to turn the fortunes of the service around.
“Some of our sister agencies have means of generating income internally, and we also have a comparative advantage in agriculture, and if we do it well, we can generate revenue to bridge the funding gap,” he said.
He, however, commended staff for their performance over the past year and entreated them to work harder to make the strategic direction and vison of the prisons administration a success.
