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Tamale, Ghana – The Royalhouse Chapel International led by its Founder and General Oversee, Rev. Sam Korankye Ankrah and his wife Rev. Mrs. Rita Korankye Ankrah led a team from Accra to donate to inmates of the Tamale Central Prisons.
The gesture, which was part of Royalhouse Chapel’s mission of spreading the gospel of Christ to the poor and neglected, benefited over 200 inmates.
Assorted items including bags of rice, toiletries, medicines, deep freezer, electrical fittings and packed food worth thousands of Ghana cedis were presented to authorities of the Tamale Central Prisons on Wednesday morning.
The inmates were also provided with medical screening and cost surgery of two inmates at the Tamale Central Hospital were fully borne by the church.
A report released by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations in 2014 indicated that the human right conduct in Ghana’s prisons does not meet international standards. The report indicated that the extreme level of overcrowding sometimes extends to those on remand, the convicted and the condemned, and results in a number of serious violations including inadequate nutrition, insufficient access to medical care, poor sanitation, personal insecurity and the absence of rehabilitation services.
Recent Statistics from the Ghana Prisons Service show that all 43 prison facilities in the country are dangerously overcrowded by over 3,000 prisoners. Per the data, all prison facilities currently have a total prison population of over 14,000 when they are only allowed to accommodate 9,875. To buttress this, a 2019 Human Rights Report by the United States of America on the conditions in the country’s prisons indicated that, as at September 2018, Ghana’s prisons held 14,985 inmates. “This has exacerbated harsh conditions leading to overcrowding, food shortages, a poor sanitary environment and lack of medical care”, the report emphasised.
An assistant resident pastor and spokesperson to the Royalhouse Chapel International, Rev. David Doku, in an interview with SavannahNews, said the church has been supporting the poor and neglected in society for the past 10 years.
“We’ve been to Gambaga witches camp, Bongo and it has been a practice of the church to always reach out to very remote areas where a lot of things are lacking there. It is the believe of the Apostle General Ankrah and the entire Royalhouse Chapel that it is the duty of the church to reach out to the lost soul by demonstrating the power of God through acts of love such as providing clothes, food, medical care and economic empowerment where people are given money to set up business or learn a skill”, he explained.
Rev. Doku appealed to other churches and society in general to emulate the example of the Royalhouse Chapel International by helping drug addicts, prostitutes, beggars, prisoners and other neglected souls to reintegrate into society.
DSP David Afachaw on behalf of the prison authorities commended the Royalhouse Chapel International and its founder for the kind gesture.
“the prisons are facing many challenges including insufficient food, lack of funds to cater for expensive medical conditions of some inmates and among others. We believe that if the public, churches and corporate Ghana come to our aid many of our challenges would be addressed”, he opined.
By SavannahNewsOnline.Com/Philip Liebs
