The Perfector of Sentiments Foundation, an Accra based Civil Society Organization (CSO) which focuses its activities in the area of Human Rights Advocacy, Law/Policy Reforms has with funding from German cooperation/GIZ Ghana, and support from Legal Aid Commission, the Ghana Prisons Service, and KABFAM, constructed and commissioned an ultra-modern Paralegal Office at the Kumasi Central Prison, on Friday 26th April, 2024 to help convict prisoners who may have received a miscarriage of justice or excessive sentence, and who would otherwise be unable to afford legal representation to appeal their cases on self-representation under Article 19 (2) (f).
The Executive Director for POS Foundation, Mr. Jonathan Osei Owusu while handling over the office to the Ghana Prisons Service, urged the service to make the unit available to all inmates who are willing to revisit their cases and also the need to see the new Paralegal Office as a safe haven for inmates who are unable to pay for the services of Lawyers.
“We are grateful to GIZ for the funding and also to KABFAM Ghana for the appliances. This office, looking at how close it is to the Prison High Court, will make the work of the paralegals easier and speed up the processes”
“This project has come to aid prisoners who cannot afford lawyers the opportunity to test the laws and get the justice they never had before”, he reiterated.
The Director of Prisons, in charge of Operations, DOP/Mr. Samuel Owusu-Amponsah, on behalf of the Director General of Prisons, lauded the efforts of the POS Foundation and the GIZ and again appreciated the office and the benefits it is going to serve the region as a whole.
“This is something we’ve been yearning for so long, today we are very much appreciative of the good done to the service by Mr. Osei-Owusu and his team; and we are very optimistic, this single but beneficial act will serve a great importance to not just the Central Prison but the region as a whole”, he remarked.
The Commissioning of the project was graced by the Director of Operations of the Ghana Prisons Service, DOP/Mr. Samuel Owusu Amponsah, the Director of Prisons in-charge of Human Resource Development of the Ghana Prisons Service, DOP/Mr. Benedict Bob-Derry, Executive Director for POS, Mr. Jonathan Osei Owusu, the country director for GIZ and the Director for Legal Aid Commission, Mr. Edmund Foley.
Other top dignitaries at the short but colourful ceremony were, Deputy Director of Prisons (DDP) Mr, Eric Ainoo Ansah, Ashanti regional Commander of Prisons, Officer in charges for both Manhyia Local Prison and Kumasi Female Prison, Deputy Director of Prisons (DDP) Mr. Joseph Asabre and Assistant Director of Prisons (ADP) Mrs. Hannah Ewuome, and Justice Sir Dennis Dominic Adjei, a Court of Appeal judge.
Training and Awarding of Certificates
Prior to the commissioning of the office at the Kumasi Central Prison, 20 officers, made up both senior and junior officers, and 11 inmates; drawn from the Central and Female prisons were awarded certificates after a 7-days training as Paralegals, under the In-Prison Paralegal Programme at the Miklin Hotel, Danyame, Kumasi.
