Amnesty International Ghana welcomes the recent government decision to increase the daily feeding allowance for prisoners from GHS 1.80 to GHS 5.00. News announced by the Minister for the Interior, Mr Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak, when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament on Tuesday, September 30, 2025. This is a long-overdue adjustment that acknowledges the rising cost of living and the urgent need to uphold the dignity and basic human rights of persons deprived of their liberty.
While the increment is a positive step, we call on government to ensure that the funds are released on time, properly managed, and used solely to improve the nutrition and wellbeing of prisoners.
We would also like to emphasize that feeding allowance increments must be complemented with broader reforms to address overcrowding, poor sanitation, and woefully inadequate healthcare in the Ghana prisons. Although efforts have been made to decongest the prisons (for example the recent pardons the President granted), Ghana’s prisons hold more inmates than their official capacity, worsening living conditions and undermining rehabilitation efforts.
Amnesty International Ghana further calls on government to:
· Ensure transparent accountability mechanisms for the disbursement of feeding funds.
· Invest in alternative sentencing, particularly for petty offences, to reduce prison congestion.
· Ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) towards the abolition of the death penalty.
About Amnesty International Ghana
Amnesty International Ghana is a human rights non-governmental organization registered in Ghana with NPO status. We are part of Amnesty International’s global movement of over 10 million members who campaign for a world where every person enjoys the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.