Former Upper East Regional Minister, Tangoba Abayage
Former Upper East Regional Minister, Tangoba Abayage, has assured leadership and inmates of the Navrongo Central Prisons of her continues support to the correctional facility.
The former ambassador to Italy said she will continue to give the facility support whenever she finds the means, to augment efforts by the government and the Prisons Service to provide the needs of inmates and develop them for reintegration into the society.
Ms. Abayage, who was speaking to leadership and inmates when she made a donation to the facility as part of her 57th birthday celebration, noted the importance of individual support to the Prisons Service in performing its correctional responsibilities, and promised to weave the facility into her annual donation activities she undertakes to mark her birthday.
She said: “I will continue to visit you whenever I’m able to put something together. It is always a pleasure to come and see how you’re doing and I assure that whenever I get something, I won’t forget to bring it to you. If we all give our little support, I’m sure it will go a long way to support the prison”.
” This donation is part of my 57th birthday celebration. I have brought you bags of rice, beans and gari. I have here also gallons of oil, boxes of tin tomatoes and much more. As you all remember, last year I was here. So, I’m here again to celebration with you. I have made a similar donation to the kids ward of the War Memorial Hospital which I have adopted four years ago and I will see if I can adopt this facility too, to benefit from the donations I make every year to mark my birthday”.
Ms. Abayage donated bags of rice, large size gallons of oil, large size bags of beans and gari and boxes of tin tomatoes. The other items were sacks of washing powder and over 300 wraps of cooked food for the prisoners.
While she called on benevolent individuals and organizations to extend support to the prison, especially in providing food and training for the inmates, Ms. Abayage urged the prisoners to take charge of their lives and make a turnround. She inspired them not to let their present fate determine the trajectory of their lives as the prison was only meant to correct and not condemn them.
Ms. Abayage encouraged the inmates to take the guidance of the correctional officers seriously and use their time in there to get closer to God so that they can come out of the walls of the prison as changed men who can contribute to the development of society and the country as a whole.
“We are not here because we think you deserve to be here, but we are here because we love you. we are here because we appreciate you. so, I urge you all to be good men, listen to the guidance of those looking after you and spend your time in here well so that when your time is up and you’re going home, you will be a changed person who can contribute to the development of society. So that you can be someone who can help to develop the country. And please, don’t forget to let God be by your side in everything you do”, Tangoba advised.
For his part, Acting Second-In-Command of the Prison, Superintendent Francis D. Deku, who heaped praises on the former minister for her kind gesture, said the food items would support the facility which is struggling to provide three square meals for the prisoners daily.
Supt. Deku said the allocation for the feeding of each inmate is awfully inadequate. He said the prison has had to grow farms and gardens at Kologo from which they feed the inmates and used proceeds to take care of their other needs.
He thanked Tangoba Abayage for the support and appealed to other individuals and organizations to look the way of the facility whenever they have donations to make.
Donation to War Memorial Hospital
Earlier on, Ms. Abayage donated to the Children’s ward of the War Memorial Hospital in Navrongo. It’s her fourth donation to the ward since she adopted the ward four years ago.
Ms. Abayage gave the ward several boxes of Kalypo fruit drink, boxes of biscuits, gallons of liquid detergents, crates of malt and bags of tissue paper. She also provided them with bags of sachet water and a host of other items.
The former Minister interacted with some of the children on admission in the ward and prayed for their recovery. She urged parents and guardians to make the well-being of their wards a top priority to prevent the children from falling ill.
Cecil Ofori, the administrator who received the items on the hospital’s behalf, assured that the items will be given to those intended for. She thanked Tangoba Abayage for the motherly love and appealed to her not to flinch in the kind gesture.
The administrator highlighted a number of challenges stifling the smooth operation of the hospital and asked for support to address them.
Ms. Abayage undertook the separate donation exercises, which cost thousands of Cedis, in the company of the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the Kassena-Nankana Municipal Assembly, William Aduum, District Chief Executive for Kassena-Nankana West, Gerard Ataogye, the NPP Navrongo central chairman, Anthony Kofi Mensah and Vice, Jonathan Baloba and NPP Navrongo central communication director, Shaibu Slanwiah.