ACCRA, Sept 30 (The African Portal) – The government of Ghana has approved an increase in the daily feeding fee for prisoners from GH¢1.80 to GH¢5, the first review in 15 years.
The Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak, made the announcement when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament on Tuesday, 30 September 2025.
He said the new rate would be reflected in the 2026 Budget following presidential approval, with GH¢10m expected to be released to cover the last quarter of this year.
Committee members described the current GH¢1.80 allocation, which has remained unchanged since 2010, as grossly inadequate to provide three meals a day for inmates.
The Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service, Patience Baffoe-Bonnie, told the committee: “Once the feeding arrangement is poor, it affects the health and general wellbeing of prisoners.”
A committee member, Sebastian Fred Deh, compared the figure to the GH¢2.50 per child per day under the school feeding programme. He said the situation violated the Mandela Rules, which require that prisoners be given adequate food.
He urged the government to release the approved funds without delay to ease the strain on the prison system.
Mrs Baffoe-Bonnie said the Service had been supplementing food supplies with produce from gardens, fish ponds and poultry projects across various facilities, as well as support from churches.
She warned that food shortages remained the main cause of unrest in prisons, stressing that improving rations was necessary to maintain order and protect officers.
She added that while the GH¢5 rate had been approved, the Service would continue to push for a further increase in the 2026 fiscal year to reflect the real cost of feeding adults in custody.
