Nsawam prison hit by water shortage

Nsawam (Eastern Region) - A severe water shortage has hit the Nsawam Medium Prisons in the Eastern Region, rendering prison life very uncomfortable, especially, for the inmates. As a result, the entire prison population of over 3,000 and the officers depend on three bore holes which do not produce sufficient and even safe water.

This was made known to newsmen at the weekend when the Knights and Ladies of Saint John International of the Accra Diocese of the Catholic Church donated sewing machines and accessories worth ?11 million to the Prison.

The newsmen were later taken round by the Director-General of Prisons, Nii Richard Kuuire and the Eastern Region Commander of Prisons, Mr Benjamin Quaye, to assess the state of facilities there. Most of the inmates have to queue for most part of the day to draw water from the boreholes.

To compound the problem, there is only one faulty water tank, which at the time of the visit had no water. Mr Quaye told the Times that water had not flowed in the taps for the past three weeks. He said that upon enquiry at the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), he was told that the Prison was situated on a hill and that the pressure was not enough to pump water to it.

According to Mr Quaye efforts to get the headquaters to supply them water had not been very successful since the headquarters had only one water tanker which serve the entire region.

To solve the problem, he said that there was the need for all the blocks in the Prisons to have overhead tanks to store enough water. Mr Quaye noted that there had not been any reports of water borne diseases in the yard, but cautioned that the safety of the inmates could not be guaranteed for long.