Churches urged to pay fines for convicts

Churches should consider paying fines imposed on convicts by the courts as a means of decongesting the prisons, Mr Ambrose Imoro Salifu, Ashanti Regional Commander of Prisons, has suggested.

Mr Salifu said the major problem facing the prisons was the large numbers of remand prisoners, which had overstretched facilities thus compelling inmates to sleep in turns, a situation he described as injurious to their health.

The Regional Prison Commander was speaking when the Most Reverend Peter Kwasi Sarpong, Catholic Archbishop of Kumasi, paid his 36th annual visit to the Kumasi Central Prisons on Boxing Day to share the word of God with the inmates and the prison officials.

Mr Salifu explained that some of the inmates were in the prisons just because they were unable to pay minor fines imposed on them by the courts and if churches paid such fines it would help to decongest the prisons. He commended the Catholic Church for its regular support to prisons in the Ashanti Region and appealed to the Government to increase the feeding allowance of 4,000 cedis per day for every inmate.

Most Reverend Sarpong 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 called on the inmates not to see themselves as outcasts, who have come to the end of the road but to use their period of incarceration to take stock of their lives; forgive themselves and to 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 interact 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.GNA

The IFJ Condemns the Brutal Murder of a Journalist in Nigeria

The International Federation of Journalists, (IFJ), on Wednesday condemned, in strongest terms, the brutal murder of the Chairman of the Editorial Board of "This Day" Newspaper, Godwin Agbroko, on Friday night, December 22, 2006. Godwin Agbroko was shot while on his way home after leaving his office.

"The nature of the killing suggested that Agbroko was specifically targeted for murder, as all his personal belongings in the car were not touched," Gabriel Baglo, Director of the IFJ, Africa Office said.

"We call on the Nigerian Government to launch a thorough investigation into this inhumane act and to ensure that those responsible for this heinous act are brought to justice." The IFJ is deeply concerned with the growing number of journalists murdered with impunity in Nigeria.

It could be recalled that Omololu Falobi, former editor of the Punch Newspaper and chairman of the network of Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) was also shot and killed in October 2006. His killers are yet to be brought to justice. In the same vein the murderers of Dela Giwa are still at large, 20 years after his murder.

The IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 110 countriesGNA

White Chapel entangles itself in tax evasion

The Value Added Tax (VAT) Service on Wednesday closed the White Chapel Store in Accra again for defaulting in 2.4 billion cedis tax payment for three years. The Service had closed the Store last week and secured the place with its locks and keys but the store was illegally opened and doing business. Business was in full swing when a combined team of officials of the Enforcement and Debt Management Unit of the VAT Service and Police personnel arrived at the store at 1600 hours.

The officials could not locate the Director, Mr Daniel Ofori, and the Police arrested and handcuffed Richard Ohemeng, a Sales Assistant who they said was not co-operating with them on directing them to those responsible for the store's operation.

Exchanges between the police and other personnel in the Store intensified outside the White Chapel Building, when a mob heckled the tax officials with the intent of releasing Ohemeng but that was to no avail. The crowd destroyed a file of the VAT officers, poured water on the police personnel, attempted to seize the cap of an officer and tried to destroy the camera of GTV crew but a re-enforcement soon arrived and restored order.

The police picked some identifiable troublemakers in the crowd and sent them to the Greater Accra Regional Police Headquarters. Mr. Henry Sam, Revenue Official of the Debt Enforcement and Management Unit of the VAT Service, who invoked sections 34 and 70 of the VAT Laws said the Service would be compelled to auction the goods in the store to defray the amount in default after the 14 days' grace period after the closure.

He said negotiations with the management of the store to pay its VAT debt had not been fruitful, adding that the VAT Service was compelled under the circumstance to close the store. Mr Sam warned companies and other stores who had defaulted in the payment of their VAT returns to take a cue from the action.

He could however, not tell total number of organisations in arrears and the total indebtedness to the Service.GNA

Grant mass amnesty to prisoners at Ghana’s 50th anniversary - Archbishop

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