Members of the Kufuor Scholars’ Programme (KSP), an initiative of the John Agyekum Kufuor Foundation, have donated textbooks and teaching materials to inmates at the Kumasi Central Prison.

The items cost over GH¢1,000 and have been funded through donations by the members as part of leadership development commitment of the JAK Foundation.

Chief Executive Officer of JAK Foundation, Prof Baffour Agyemang-Duah, who led the scholars to the prison yard, said the need to groom good future leaders for the country’s development is urgent.

According to him, it is critical to have a system that identifies, trains and nurtures young people with leadership potential, “as good leaders do not fall directly from heaven.”

Prof Agyemang-Duah indicated that more must be done to bring on the talent of the future, and that the donation underpinned some of the key principles of the foundation, which the Kufuor Scholars had taken up as a project dubbed, ‘Cell Not Hell.’

President of the programme, Elorm Bona-Mensah, said the project is dedicated to advocating better living and health conditions at the country’s prisons; and that such things will mean a lot to the inmates who are made to feel like they are detached from society forever.

She was very impressed by the performance of the prison students in the recent Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).