Contractor Told To Complete Prison Project

From Stephen Kwabena Effah, Ankaful
Saturday, 27 October 2007

The Ghana Prisons Service Council has asked the contractor working on the Ankaful Maximum Security Prisons near Cape Coast to complete the project by December.

Members of the council who visited the project site on Thursday, asked the contractors, Barrys Company Limited, to complete at least two unit dormitory cells for inmates of James Fort Prison to be brought there by December.

The directive comes barely two weeks after the Ghana Bar Association called for the closure of the James Fort Prison because the building is dilapidated and overcrowded.

But the contractor, Alhaji Issah Barry said that, although the deadline for the two dormitories could be met, working at the site with the presence of the inmates and security surveillance may pose a problem for his workers.

He therefore suggested to the council to give him up to February next year by which time he would have finished work within the site and moved out all the workers, but the council insisted that the December deadline is from a "high authority" and cannot be compromised.

The estimated 70-billion cedi project, which is in phases, started in 1998 but it was not until 2005 when much attention was given to it and is expected to be completed by 2008. When completed, the reformatory prison will house long-sentence and violent prisoners.

So far, about ¢50 billion has been spent on the project which is about 80 per cent completed.

Mr Samuel Kofi Asubonteng, a council member, told the Times that it is important that the contractor redoubles his effort so as to meet the deadline, adding "if he is working for eight hours a day, he should extend it to 16 hours or increase his workforce."

The Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service, William Asiedu, assured the contractor that the inmates will be restricted from venturing into the construction area.

He said the Maximum Security Prisons would serve as an industrial prison that would offer rehabilitation and reformation to prisoners. He added "it will make them self-employable and earn them money so that they can establish themselves after leaving the place."

M. Asiedu noted that although the prison has been designed to house 2000 inmates, it could take about 5000, noting that it would help relieve overcrowding in the country’s prisons.

He said the service has proposed non-custodial sentence to the Attorney General as a means of saving the various prisons from overcrowding, saying "it will contribute to the modernisation of the criminal justice of Ghana."

On his part, Mr Frank Ocran, a member of the council, said there is a target to achieve and that is to get the place ready for use by December, noting that a lot of investment has gone into the project, hence it is prudent to start using the facility.

He noted that although he is impressed by the quality of work the objective of using the place by December must be met.

The council was expected to meet the contractor yesterday to discuss and come out with a strategy for meeting the December deadline.