Activist petitions Interior Minister after detainee’s death, demands ring-fenced feeding budget for all
By DL News
Published
2 min read
In a letter dated 12 December and addressed to Interior Minister Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, Frank Quaye cites media reports that 28-year-old Mr Kweku died at the Techimantia Police Station in the Ahafo Region after allegedly being assaulted
A legal activist has petitioned the Ministry of the Interior over the reported death of a detainee in police custody, calling for an urgent overhaul of how persons held in cells are fed across the country.
In a letter dated 12 December and addressed to Interior Minister Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, Frank Quaye cites media reports that 28-year-old Mr Kweku died at the Techimantia Police Station in the Ahafo Region after allegedly being assaulted and left without food for at least a day.
Quaye, referencing coverage by Crime Check TV GH, describes the incident as evidence of “a grave, systemic failure” in the state’s duty of care toward detainees.
In the petition, Quaye makes two principal requests:
An independent probe into the circumstances surrounding Mr Kweku’s death, including the alleged assault and starvation in custody.
The immediate creation of a specific, non-discretionary, ring-fenced budget line within the Ghana Police Service to fund meals for all persons detained in police cells nationwide.
He argues that the current practice—where detainees depend largely on relatives to bring them food—is unlawful and incompatible with Article 15 of the 1992 Constitution, which guarantees the right to human dignity.
According to the petition, the frequent explanation of “no resources” cannot justify situations that place detainees’ lives at risk. Quaye warns that leaving feeding arrangements to the discretion of individual officers, without a dedicated budget, has now had fatal consequences.
Quaye urges the Interior Minister to champion a permanent funding solution in the next national budget, and to engage the Police Council, which plays an advisory role on police administration and resourcing.
He frames Mr Kweku’s death as a turning point that should prompt structural reform rather than ad hoc fixes, insisting that detainees’ basic needs must be treated as a non-negotiable state obligation.
The petition has been copied to:
The Presidency
The Ministry of Finance
Parliament
The Police Council
CHRAJ
The Inspector-General of Police
The Ghana Bar Association
Quaye hopes that broad institutional attention will translate into binding safeguards to prevent any repeat of such incidents in Ghana’s police cells.
