The Chairman of Parliament’s Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs Committee and member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Dr Godfred Seidu Jasaw, has called for a government directive requiring public institutions to purchase a quota of goods produced by inmates of the Ghana Prisons Service.
He said the policy would provide a reliable market for prison-based vocational businesses and help the Service generate sustainable income instead of relying heavily on philanthropy and donor support.
Dr Jasaw made the proposal during an engagement between the PAC and the Ghana Prisons Service on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, following concerns raised by the Service’s Director-General, Patience Baffoe-Bonnie, about inadequate funding and limited support for its vocational enterprises.
Dr Jasaw argued that relying on public sympathy and donations was not a sustainable way to develop the commercial activities of the Prisons Service.
“That model is about begging, looking for sympathy, and so on and so forth. That’s cheap labour already available—so that’s a factor of production. The question is, how do you turn this to your advantage?” he asked.
While acknowledging previous skills training and capacity-building initiatives in prisons, he said the Service needed a stronger economic model that could turn those skills into viable businesses.
He proposed that government institutions and state-owned enterprises be required to procure some of their goods from prison-based businesses, with metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies also sourcing a percentage of their furniture and related products from prison artisans.
“Making a statement on government institutions and SOEs doing some compulsory procurement from the Prisons Service, assemblies doing some percentage of furniture and other related products from the artisans’ work,” he said.
The MP also called on the Ghana Prisons Service to develop business plans that could attract financing from commercial banks and other financial institutions.
He said clearly established markets and predictable revenue streams would help reduce investment risks and make prison enterprises more attractive to lenders.
“The Prisons Service itself should also think about how they can turn a business model that can attract co-financing from financial institutions. So the banks will go and assess risks and then see if there’s a good rate of return, then they’ll put in their investment,” he said.
Dr Jasaw cited wood carvings and furniture production for schools as potential areas for expansion, provided the Service could demonstrate demand and secure reliable buyers.
“If you can produce furniture for schools, dual desks, and they know there’s that market and that policy environment exists, then the financial institutions will also be able to help you,” he said.
Dr Jasaw urged the Director-General to identify the Service’s existing capabilities and engage personnel who could develop commercially viable proposals around its vocational activities.
“I’m calling on the Director-General to look inwardly. I know a lot of capable prison officers there, and then hire personnel that can model business cases around the capitals and the advantages that the Ghana Prisons Service have, so that they don’t just rely on philanthropy. That will not help us. That is not transformation. That is not reset,” he said.
He added that the Service needed to move beyond dependence on donations if it was to achieve meaningful institutional change.
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