Deputy Superintendent of Prisons (DSP) Silas Andoh-Prah, In charge of Communications at the Manhyia Local Prison, has on Monday, admonished recruit officers of Course 121, who are wrapping up their 6 months on-field Para-military training at the Manhyia Local Prison in Kumasi not to start fresh businesses with loans from the banks, considering the high lending rates in the country, but rather resort to taking soft loans from family members, trusted friends or from personal savings.
DSP Silas Andoh-Prah, who also doubles as a senior Interpersonal Skills classroom Instructor for recruit and Cadet Officers training, made this revelation to the recruits’ during a Rap session organized for the recruits by the Officer-In-Charge and Training Coordinator of the facility.
“On startups, I will never advise you, at this early stages of your life to go settle for bank loans, but rather talk to friends, trusted family members or better still be disciplined on personal savings so to take money from there for whatever business you want to venture into”, he said.
The 2 hours session with the 23 recruits on Financial Literacy also had sub topics in Budget, Personal Savings, Financial discipline and Investments.
Bullet Proof Against Prisoner Manipulations.
He went on to advise the recruits to take up financial discipline and also be grateful to the OIC and Training Coordinator for rolling out such a programme which will forever be a life saving dosage in their financial life and an anti-dote to the numerous prisoner manipulations which finally land unsuspecting officers into jail.
He reiterated, “Gentlemen, take this session with all the seriousness you can gather and if for nothing at all, remember I mentioned to you, financial discipline; thus how to draw your expenditure and spending, so not to fall prey to prisoners’ manipulation, which comes when they notice you’re broke.”
Be on the lookout for Ponzi Schemes
Commenting on Ponzi schemes, he said there are a lot of juicy investment schemes in the country that are too sweet to be true so recruits should be careful not to fall for these antics for it can make one’s financial life miserable, considering the facts and history at hand.
The Financial analyst stated “ I hope you guys remember the DKMs, Menzgold, Tilapia marketing and a host of other juicy schemes that saw people running to invest their hard earned life savings and later going bankrupt after the said companies folded up. Some of these do well from the beginning until they can’t pay again and then disappoint clients.
Revision of POTS Curriculum
DSP Silas Andoh-Prah reiterated the need for the inculcation of financial literacy into the training models of the recruit training.
“I believe its time our prestigious training school add Financial literacy to our Courses so to spark financial discipline and self reliance direct from the reformation square”, he stated.
The 23 recruits Officers of Course 121 are the last batch of trainees that passed through the facility for their On-Field Para-military training that commenced in January 2022.
