The Ghana Prisons Service spent GH¢277,625 earned by inmates working for Zoomlion Ghana Limited on funeral donations, water, tuna, snacks, bus repairs and other expenses, an Auditor-General’s report has found.
The money was intended for the inmates, but Minister for the Interior Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak told Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that it had since been paid into the Auditor-General’s recoveries account.
He said some former inmates who had returned to claim their wages were being told: “the money is not with us, it is with the Auditor-General”.
The issue was raised when the Prisons Service appeared before the PAC on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, to respond to findings in the Auditor-General’s report on its inmate support programme. Mr Muntaka led the Service’s delegation.
The audit also found that inmates employed by Zoomlion were paid GH¢3 a day below the GH¢10 rate set out in their contract. The difference was deducted and described as a feeding allowance.
An auditor told the committee that, according to the Service’s response, officers made the deductions without approval from management. The officers were asked to explain their conduct only after the audit report had been issued.
Mr Muntaka said the inmates were entitled to about GH¢10 per day. However, because inmates working outside prison were not permitted to carry cash, he said the GH¢3 deduction was used to buy water for them.
He acknowledged that the officers had failed to maintain proper records of how the money was spent and said they had subsequently been ordered to refund it.
The minister said he had contacted the Auditor-General to make clear that the funds belonged to the inmates. According to him, officers transferred the money into the recoveries account because they feared possible sanctions.
He suggested that the funds should be returned to the Prisons Service so they could be paid to current and former inmates. Alternatively, he said released inmates should be directed to the Auditor-General’s office to claim their wages.
Auditors told the committee they had recommended that inmates still in custody should be paid first, with only the remaining balance transferred to the recoveries account.
They also said officers had reported unsuccessful attempts to contact inmates who had been released. The officers declined to provide their telephone numbers, citing the former inmates’ human rights.
A representative of the Auditor-General explained that the recoveries account was a transit account used to transfer funds to the Consolidated Fund. She said the Auditor-General could not withdraw money from it, but the Prisons Service could apply to the Minister of Finance for the funds to be released, subject to validation by the Auditor-General.
PAC chairperson Abena Osei Asare said the case exposed weaknesses in record-keeping and financial controls. She instructed the Service to introduce measures to prevent similar incidents and ensure that officers responsible for the deductions and handling of the money were held accountable.
