Article 14(4) of the 1992 Constitution stipulates that a person who is arrested or detained, but has not received a trial within a ‘reasonable period of time’, is entitled to unconditional release or release subject to conditions necessary for reappearance for judicial proceedings.  But it appears that inmates are not enjoying that’s constitutional. A lot of inmates are still in custody as a result of expired warrant.

Although KA MA MI has been lauded for its success in reducing the remand population, one of the major criticism has been that, some investigators feel reluctant to send inmates to courts. This is the major cause of overcrowding in our prisons.

It was on that basis, the BEST NACEM Foundation organized a Day Training Program to train Prison and Police officers (investigators) on 29^th March 2023. The training which was under the theme “The state of remand prisoner in Ghana, progress, challenges and the way forward” was aimed at identifying the major cause of expired warrant and ways to solve it.

Prison and Police officers received training from the state Attorney from the Attorney General Department, seasoned lawyers from legal Aid Commission and Traditional Leaders. On how inmates with expired warrant can get their warrants renewed, how inmates can plead guilty to reduce their sentence (plea bargain) and finally on how paralegals can assist inmates to draft an appeal for convicted inmates.

A success story is the cases of Kofi Nuamah, Micheal Apreko and Oboabi who were on remand for over 4 years for petty offences. Through BEST NACEM FOUNDATION’S KA MA MI project they were all consequently acquitted and discharged.