How Is The Money Being Spent, Uncle Kwamena?

Mr. Kwamena Bartels' announcement in Parliament that approximately ¢ 16 million [old cedis, I presume] (about $ 1, 707 American Dollars) will be spent on each prisoner during the current fiscal year, is quite heartening, relatively speaking, of course (see “16 Million Cedis to Be Spent on Each Prisoner” Ghanaweb.com 10/31/07). This constitutes a 12-percent increase over the last fiscal year. It may also imply that Ghana is finally beginning to join the ranks of the comity of civilized nations in recognizing the inviolable and inalienable humanity of the incarcerated, being that the increase is slightly higher than the current inflationary rate of about 10-percent. For the decent and meaningful upkeep of our prisoners may well, positively, contribute to the economic, intellectual, moral, social and cultural development of the country as a whole.

What needs to be clearly laid out, as a policy agenda, however, is the Government's philosophy regarding the entire Western-imported institution of punitive imprisonment. For example, does the Government still hold doggedly and dogmatically to the colonialist and neocolonialist philosophy of imprisonment as a choice instrument for the crass and vicious containment of political opponents, as well as quality-of-life violators, or the more humane and civilized view of this coercive institution as a rehabilitative and reformative establishment?

If the latter happens to be the case, then the critical need for the optimal provision of such enabling facilities as education and healthcare ought to be prioritized, rather than the mere fact of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government having generously poured an unprecedented amount of monetary capital into the prison system.

And regarding the Interior Ministry's policy on prisoner education, which is of prime interest to this writer, for example, must be highlighted the salutary possibility of extending higher-educational facilities to qualified prisoners, if this is not already in place. This means that prisoners ought to be able to register as students and potential graduates of any of the country's major universities and polytechnic institutes. Of course, those with vocational inclination, or orientation, should also be provided with the requisite facilities, all with the long-term objective of reintroducing these inmates back into civil society as upwardly mobile or productive citizens, once their respective terms of incarceration have been fulfilled. Failure on the part of the Government to facilitate the preceding would be tantamount to flagrantly causing unnecessary financial loss to the Republic.

The preceding notwithstanding, it is our fervid hope that the quite remarkable increase in prison expenditure has not been initiated, or implemented, as a cynical move, in the wake of quite a remarkable number of active and former politicians and public officials having recently found themselves incarcerated for various degrees of crimes against the Republic.

It also bears remarking on the need to boost budgetary resources at the preventive level. In other words, the Interior Ministry needs to facilitate the hiring and sound training of more police officers and prison personnel. I forget the official number of police officers currently employed by Ghana's civil service, though I vividly recall Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, a former Justice Minister, observing sometime in April 2007 that with a teeming population of some 22 million, the Ghana Police Service required the strength of at least 30,000 able-bodied men and women to ensure adequate policing of civil society. Perhaps even a third more. Ghana's prison population, it is significant to note, hovers around the vicinity of some 14,000. It would have been even more instructive if Mr. Bartels had presented the media with a regional breakdown distribution of prison inmates and, even more significantly, factors accounting for any pronounced disparities.

In any case, on the professional level, more needs to be done. And in the latter regard, the reference is to the recent rash in prisoner deaths under circumstances that have been attributed to professional inadequacy, on the part of prison wardens and police officers, by the mainstream Ghanaian media. The latter observation, if valid, necessitates the establishment of regular refresher courses and re-training for many a law-enforcement agent. Perhaps once or twice a year for all law-enforcement personnel, without any exceptions whatsoever.

*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of English and Journalism at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City. He is the author of twelve books, including “Sounds of Sirens: Essays in African Politics and Culture” (iUniverse.com, 2004). E-mail: [email protected].