Mahama allocates GH¢100m to complete Nsawam remand prison block

President John Dramani Mahama says GH¢100 million has been allocated in the 2027 Budget to complete the remand prison block at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison in the Eastern Region.

He made the announcement in Accra on Saturday, 7 November, at the induction of Rev Dr Stephen Yenusom Wengam for a second term as General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, Ghana. Rev Dr Wengam has worked with the Prisons Council and on inmate rehabilitation.

The President said the project was started to stop remand prisoners, who have not been convicted, being held alongside convicted inmates. "Remand prisoners have not been convicted, and so they are not criminals," he said, adding that holding them with convicts was "not a good mix".

He said work on the facility was abandoned after his previous administration left office in 2017 and that it would be completed next year.

The remand population has long been a pressure point in Ghana's overcrowded prisons, with many detainees awaiting trial for long periods. Separately, the Ghana Prisons Service launched a medicines bank in the Western Region on Saturday to improve healthcare for inmates.