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Grant mass amnesty to prisoners at Ghana’s 50th
anniversary - Archbishop
Kumasi, Dec. 28, GNA – The Most Reverend Peter Kwasi Sarpong,
Catholic Archbishop of Kumasi, has appealed to the
Government to grant mass amnesty to some prisoners in the
country to mark the 50th anniversary of Ghana’s
independence.
He explained that such a gesture would not only decongest
the nation’s overcrowded prisons but would also reconcile
the nation as well as heal the wounds of affected families.
Archbishop Sarpong made the appeal during his 36th annual
visit to the Kumasi Central Prisons on the Boxing Day to
share the word of God with the inmates and the prison
officials.
He, however, called on the inmates not to see themselves as
outcasts, who have come to the end of the road but use the
period to take stock of their lives, forgive themselves and
plan towards life after serving their jail terms.
He commended the prison authorities for allowing him to
adopt the prisons in the Region ever since he became Bishop,
which had enabled him to preach and share the word of God
with the inmates.
The Most Rev Gabriel Justice Anokye, the Auxiliary Bishop of
the Archdiocese, preaching the sermon, called on Christians
to pray for both the inmates and the prison personnel to
enable them to work and live peacefully.
He lamented over the increasing spate of injustices in the
country as a result of some law enforcing agencies not doing
the right thing which in turn sent some innocent people into
prison.
Bishop Anokye appealed to the society to avoid condemning
people in prison custody since as he put it, “not all of
them have committed crimes, as some were thrown into jail
due to false accusations”.
Mr Ambrose Imoro Salifu, the Ashanti Regional Commander of
Prisons, said the major problem facing his outfit now was
the large numbers of remand prisoners had overstretched
facilities compelling inmates to sleep in turns a situation
he described as injurious to their health.
He commended the Catholic Church for its regular support to
prisons in the Region and appealed to the Government to
increase the feeding allowance of 4,000 cedis for every
inmate per day.
Mr Salifu also appealed to the Catholic Church to consider
adopting measures to help to pay the minor fines imposed by
the courts on some people who could not pay and thus landed
them into jail as a way of decongesting the prisons.
GNA
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