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