News
Plight of inmates at Kumasi Central Prisons Banku,‘Keta school boys’ soup served daily
The consumption of rice as a staple food may be very common in many homes, but this is not so at the Kumasi Central Prisons where inmates enjoy the staple once in a year, specifically during the Christmas festivities.
For the inmates, their daily bread has been ‘banku and keta schoolboys’ soup.
According to the Deputy Director of Prisons, James B. Mwinyelle, the Ashanti Regional Commander of Prisons and Officer in- charge of the Kumasi Central Prisons, serving inmates rice would require a total of 16 bags of the 50kg rice bags.
Speaking to The Spectator, he said though gari was a good alternative, it remains expensive for the Prisons authority for the large number of the inmates.
“The authorities cannot even afford gari let alone beans to serve as proteins, so we rely on ‘Keta school boys’ as a source of protein.”
“Rice is expensive; the authority cannot afford it for this number of inmates we are dealing with. It is reason why we may be considering rice for them at Christmas,” he noted.
According to the Regional Commander, the increasing number of inmates was a serious concern for the authorities.
Constructed in 1901 and expanded in 1935 to accommodate 500 inmates, the facility now houses 1,627 inmates with 1,214 being convicts and 230 offenders on remand with 82 being on trial.
“Feeding this number of inmates with a feeding grant of Gh¢1.80 per inmate a day to prepare food is a huge burden on the authorities,” he stated.
He said the poor feeding regime was creating a serious health issues for the inmates, two of whom have lost their lives.
The Deputy Director of Prisons further indicated that the poor feeding coupled with congestion and lack of space for exercise among the inmates needed urgent attention to protect them and thereby reduce the high cost of medical treatment which had become a great burden to the authority.
Bathing soap for the inmates, he mentioned, was a big headache for the authority as about Gh¢8,000.00 was needed every month to purchase carbolic soap for each inmate which would not last for two weeks.
He pointed out that it was important for the state to have a second look at the state of affairs of the prisons in the country and come out with urgent measures to address the situation.
He called for a review of the feeding grant and consider the Prisons proposal of between Gh¢7.00 and Gh¢10.00 for each inmate per day.
The Regional Commander also mentioned that the Kumasi Central Prisons had taken up serious vegetable farming to help with the feeding of the inmates.
He urged the public to come to the aid of the inmates, saying that the prisons was part of society and must be seen as such in order to avoid a situation where the place would be a harbinger for radicalisation.
The issue of the feeding grant has come at a time the Minister designate for Interior, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, has raised serious concerns about the deplorable state of Ghana’s prisons, particularly regarding the inadequate budget allocated for feeding inmates.
Speaking during his vetting before the parliamentary appointments committee on Friday January 24, Muntaka pledged to prioritise prison reforms if his nomination was approved.
The Asawase Member of Parliament (MP) lamented that the G¢1.80 daily feeding budget per prisoner, describing it as grossly insufficient and inhumane
From Kingsley E. Hope, Kumasi
National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Executive Committee member and Volta River Authority (VRA) Board Member, Wonder Victor Kutor, has described calls for the resignation of Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa as premature and unjustified.
He argued that there was no evidence to establish that the minister had committed any wrongdoing to warrant such demands.
Speaking on Joy News in Accra on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, Mr Kutor questioned what had changed to justify the growing calls for the minister to step down.
He recalled that the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Abu Jinapor, had earlier indicated that the opposition was not accusing Mr Ablakwa of any wrongdoing.
Mr Kutor, therefore, challenged those demanding the minister’s resignation to provide fresh evidence to support their position.
“The call for the Minister to resign is premature, it is untenable. There is no evidence. I mean, what has he done wrong?” he questioned.
He added that documents, including boarding passes, airline receipts and flight manifests relating to the minister’s return journey, had been provided.
Mr Kutor expressed concern that the calls for Mr Ablakwa’s resignation could discourage young politicians from speaking out against corruption and advocating transparency.
According to him, politicians should not be targeted or maligned for demanding accountability, warning that such treatment could create the impression that speaking against corruption could later become a liability when one is appointed to public office.
He maintained that calling for accountability and transparency should not be used as grounds to target public officials without evidence of wrongdoing.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Ghana will host the Africa Festival of Arts, Culture and Creatives (AFESTAC) 2026 alongside Industrial Skills Week Africa (ISWA) 2026 in Accra from December 9 to 12, 2026.
On the back of these programmes, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, has called on corporate Ghana, the media and the general public to support the initiative through partnerships, sponsorships and active participation.
The events, supported by the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), will bring together stakeholders to celebrate Africa’s rich cultural heritage, strengthen the creative economy, promote industrial skills development and create employment opportunities for young people.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
