Geeman: Ghanaian pop star who was jailed for killing a taxi driver in 1995 speaks, calls for prison reforms

• Ghanaian pop star, Geeman who was imprisoned for killing a taxi driver in 1995, has called for prison reforms
• He explained that Ghana's prison system has failed to reform convicted persons who are incarcerated for various crimes
• Geeman sat for an interview with Giovani Caleb on TV3's Showbiz 360

Ghana’s biggest pop star, Nana Kwasi Agyemang, famed as Geeman, has called for prison reforms in the nation, saying some inmates are not supposed to be incarcerated.

In an interview with Giovani Caleb on TV3's Showbiz 360, Geeman who served 14 years in prison after he was convicted of the murder of a taxi driver in 1995, said there are several people in jail who do not have to be there.

He explained that prison is supposed to reform, however, many of the inmates after serving their sentence are released into society without being reformed.

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''It means there's something wrong with the system,'' said Geeman as he bemoaned the state of Ghana's prisons and the inmates,'' said Geeman.

''There are people in there who don’t have to be in there, and they are there,'' he stressed.

Geeman contends that the terrible structure of the nation's ‘supposed’ rehabilitation system is doing society more harm than good.

''Somebody smokes one joint of weed. When you are arrested, you are given 10 years. When you go into the prisons, they sell more weed in the prison, than outside. So how have you reformed that person?

''So if the person does not reform in the prison, they come out worse than they went in. So there is no convict who is the same. You either come out better or you come out bitter. So then you are bitter against society,'' he said.

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Geeman suggested that the inmates are equipped with technical skills before they come out. ''That is my desire that we would help to reform people and bring them out better.''

Background

In 1995, Nana Akwasi Agyemang, also known as Geeman, shot and killed a taxi driver at Dome in Accra after an altercation over the taxi fare. The taxi driver had been hired by Nadia, a female friend and actress of Jagger Pee.

According to Nadia, the agreed price was 3,000 cedis, present-day three pesewas But the taxi driver insisted it was 4,000 cedis, present-day four pesewas.

Amidst the disagreement, the taxi driver collected a patch of sand from a spot where Geeman was standing, supposedly for ritual purposes. Peeved by the taxi driver's action, Geeman ran into his room for a pistol and returned to shoot the taxi driver - after giving a warning shot.

Jagger Pee, who was present during the confrontation, allegedly held the taxi driver from running away. After the court trial, Jaggar Pee received a life sentence, and Geeman was sentenced to death for murder.

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Geeman started his jail sentence in January of 1995. He received a presidential pardon from the then outgoing president, John Agyekum Kufuor on January 9, 2009.

Freedom Jacob Caesar appointed ambassador of ULMWP

In a separate story, Ghanaian business mogul and humanitarian, Freedom Jacob Caesar Bediako, has been appointed as the West African Ambassador for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP).

Freedom Jacob Caesar would assist in West Papua's struggle for independence from Indonesia under a single umbrella organisation through diplomatic, financial, humanitarian, and political support.

This comes after the Ghanaian industrialist and philanthropist stood up and demanded the Chinese Government answers for the way Blacks, including Ghanaians, were being treated in the height of the prevailing pandemic.

Source: YEN.com.gh