Former President, John Dramani Mahama has suggested that improved prisons condition should be part of the mandate of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
“I think that CHRAJ is responsible for human rights. So I think that it should visit the prisons from time to time and write annual reports on the state of the prisons. CHRAJ does its annual report on human rights so I do think that the prisons should be an important part of the work that they do. They should visit the prisons regularly and make recommendations to government to improve prison conditions,” he explained.
Mr. Mahama was responding to a suggestion from the Executive Director of Crime Check Foundation (CCF), Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng on the need for government to appoint a Chief Inspector of Prisons.
“A troubling issue is the need to appoint a Chief Inspector of Prisons. In the UK and other jurisdictions, they have a Chief Inspector of Prisons. The Attorney General’s Department and other institutions are doing the monitoring to ensure compliance with the way prisons are handled but because they are under government, it becomes impossible for them to do the naming and shaming. In the UK, the Chief Inspector of Prisons makes periodic visits to the prisons and when government hears about the visits, it trembles because of the report that will come out. We want to use your good office to push for that,” Mr. Kwarteng justified.
This came up when John Mahama hosted Amnesty International, Ghana, Crime Check Foundation, and other civil society organizations in his office during a courtesy call on him to court his support for improving justice delivery in the country.
By Rudolph Nandi
