The Chairman of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Eric Nyamekye on Sunday, July 21, 2019 cut sod for the construction of an ultra-modern prison facility that would provide relative comfort and enhance rehabilitation and reformation of inmates.
The 300-capacity prison with auxiliary facilities such as vocational and technical training workshop, recreational centre, a Church building and Administration block being put up in the Nsawam Medium Prison Camp is part of the Church’s Security Based Development Projects captured in its vision 2023 with an overarching theme: “possessing the nations.”
Under the program, the Church is expected to procure logistics to support the security services, construct three modern police stations—one currently ongoing at Akropong Akuapem. Also ongoing is the construction of an ultra-modern holding facility for Ghana Prisons Service at Ejura Nkwanta in Ashanti region.
The Prison Project at Nsawam expected to be completed by the end of January 2020 seeks to complement the effort of decongesting the Prison and facilitate rehabilitation and reformation of inmates in a more dignified environment.
Concerns have been raised by many human rights organizations about the dehumanizing state of the 44 prison facilities in the country, which are overcrowded.
According to statistics by the Ghana Prison Service, Ghana’s Prisons are overcrowded by 52.87%. The total authorized holding capacity of all 44 prisons is 9,945 inmates, however, the number of inmates is currently hovering around 15,203 out of which 13,355 are convicted inmates while 1,848 on remand, 15,015 are male while 188 female with foreigners constituting 834 while juvenile is 268.
The Chairman of The Church of Pentecost Apostle Eric Nyamekye said Prison facilities must be a place of reformation and not solely punishment in dehumanizing environment hence the initiative by the Church.
Fellowshipping with the inmates, Apostle Eric Nyamekye delivered a sermon on the topic “The Heart of a Man” to demonstrate the complexity of human nature and its propensity to be wayward if not filled with the Holy Spirit.
“The human being is a spirit, has a soul (the mind, will and emotions), and lives in a body. For this reason, the human being is not just his or her body, rather the body only expresses what the soul and spirit are. The Soul and Spirit of a man are what the Bible sometimes refers to as the heart. The heart can, therefore, be termed as the inner man,” he said.
He admonished the inmates to eschew bitterness and revenge rather surrender their lives and troubles to God to direct their future.
“Bitter people are also unforgiving and always keep records of the wrong done to them. They also have a callous heart and do not think about the consequences of their actions,” he said.
The Chairman was accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Mary Nyamekye, other ministers such as Apostles Samuel Osei Asante (Executive Council Member and Koforidua Area Head), David Tekper (Executive Council Member and Achimota Area Head), Dr. Jimmy Markin (Director, Evangelism Ministry), David Nyansah Hayfron (Director, Youth Ministry), and Pastor Dr. Nicholas Darko (Finance and Administration Director), among others.
Also present at the service were some high profile officials of the Ghana Prisons Service including Mr Patrick Darko Missah (Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service), Apostle James Tetteh (Assistant Director of the Ghana Prisons Service), Rev. Fr. CSP Martin Padi and Rev. DSP Stella Ama Katso, among others.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Kojo Ansah
