Ghanaians have been urged to speak for the removal of statutory laws that criminalise poverty in order to decongest prisons across the country.
The Deputy Director of Prisons and Officer-in-Charge of the Kumasi Central Prisons, Asamoah Fenning, who made the call said it is inhumane to keep petty offenders in deplorable walled prisons when these people can be used for developmental purposes rather than feeding them on peanuts.
He made these comments when a human-rights based NGO, Crime Check Foundation (CCF) in partnership with Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) organised a sensitization workshop for vagrants in the Suame Municipality in the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi.
A vagrant is a person who is homeless with no regular work thereby moving from one place to the other. They usually make a living from begging or hawking on the streets.
The project, themed; Decriminalizing Vagrancy Laws and Advocacy was as a result of harsh Assembly bye-laws which target the poor in society. It has so far educated over 1,200 vagrants on their basic rights and responsibilities and ultimately calling for reforms in national laws targeting petty offenders.
In view of this laudable initiative which will eventually help improve the Prisons system in Ghana, the Deputy Director of Prison and Officer-in-Charge of the Kumasi Central Prions, Asamoah Fenning urged the public to support CCF’s initiatives to achieve this.
“The prisons are full. For instance, the Kumasi Central Prison, which was built for four hundred inmates, now holds more than two thousand of them, an increase of more than four hundred per cent. The conditions are terrible and inmates are fed on GHS 1.80 (less than 50 cents) a day,” he reiterated.
Mr. Fenning further said increased knowledge on bye-laws will reduce the statistics on the violation of these laws by citizens who get arrested and fined or imprisoned due to their ignorance of the law.
“Most of our parents, drivers, truck pushers, hawkers and the ordinary person on the street do not know the laws that regulate affairs within the Assembly. As a result, many, including single mothers who are selling in the streets fall victim of the law, he added.
Meanwhile, vagrants in the Suame Municipality have expressed disappointment in the Assembly
According to them, pieces of land meant for social development purposes have all been sold out in disregard to the needs of the poor.
Source: myghanadaily
