By Mildred Siabi-Mensah
Nana Ngya Toku IV, Chief of Damitse, in the Ahanta West Municipality has called on the government to engage petty offenders in Community farming to produce enough food for schools and other government sponsored institutions.
He said chiefs were prepared to donate lands for that purpose, which would see to the decongestion of the prisons, save the government purse of feeding such inmates, while they rather help in nation-building in that regard.
Nana Toku IV told the Ghana News Agency, during a community sensitisation on the Community Service Bill by HURDS Foundation in partnership with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiatives noted that there were many sectors that such petty offenders could serve and contribute to the productivity of the state rather than becoming a national burden.
The Community sentencing Bill would provide an alternative to custodial sentences where offenders of misdemeanors engaged in unpaid work in their communities.
The Bill when passed would cater for assault, threats, defrauding, drunk driving and stealing, among others.
Ms Eva Ankrah, the Executive Director of HURDS Foundation, who enlightened the Community on the bill, therefore called on them to impress their members of Parliament to have the bill passed into law.
