MTN SETS UP ITC CENTRE AT ANKAFUL PRISON CAMP (PAGE 19, AUGUST 14, 2010)

MOBILE Telecommunications Network (MTN) Foundation has established a GH¢31,000.00 Information and Communication Centre (ICT) for inmates and officers of the Ankaful Main Prison Camp in the Central Region.
The centre would facilitate the training of the 2000 inmates and officers at the prisons in ICT to enhance their skills development and moral education.
According to the Executive Director of the Foundation, Mrs Mawuena Trebarh, the centre would also build the capacity of the officers for effective record keeping and management.
Mrs Trebarh said the MTN’s decision to finance the ICT project at the Ankaful Prison was in response to a request made to the company by the Ghana Prisons Service-Ankaful.
She said MTN engaged in educational projects that would impact positively on efforts at reforming prisoners to enable them to be well- integrated into the society after they were discharged.
The executive director said the commitment to support the Ankaful Prisons was informed by the experiences the MTN Employee Volunteers had during visits to the prisons and interactions with the authorities and the inmates.
The Executive Secretary of MTN Ghana Foundation, Mr Robert Kudzoe, said the multi- dimensional benefits of the centre signalled a vision of hope and opportunities for integrating prisoners into the society after their discharge.
He said the foundation had established 10 ICT centres in various rural communities throughout the country and called on the beneficiary communities to maintain them properly.
The Chairman of the Board of MTN Ghana Foundation, Professor Franklin Manu, urged communities to take interest in the various projects initiated by the foundation to enhance their sustainability.
The Acting Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service, Mr Michael Kofi Bansah, said the inmates of the prison, who fell below the ages of 18 and 35 constituted 78.2 per cent of the total convicted prisoner population of 10,366 as of August 9, 2010.
Mr Bansah said 69 per cent of the group was made up of basic and high school dropouts and stressed the need to equip them with knowledge and skills to minimise the tendency for them to re-offend after their release from prison as their opportunity of being employed could be enhanced.
He said the provision of the ICT facility by MTN Ghana Foundation would facilitate the inmates’ education programme initiated by the Ghana Prisons Service, and further complement the ongoing distance learning programmes at Nsawam, Kumasi, Wa, Tamale and the Ankaful prisons.
He expressed the hope that the project would be replicated in the other prisons to help reform prisoners to ensure their proper re-integration into society after their discharge.