Assistant Director of Prisons (ADP), Apostle James Teye Tetteh has donated the offering proceeds from his retirement service to support an officer who lost all belongings in a recent fire outbreak in Tamale.
ADP Tetteh who doubles as the Chaplain General of the Ghana Prisons Service made this kind gesture on Friday, February 4, 2022, at his retirement service, held at the Prisons Inter-denominational Church at the prisons headquarters in Accra.
Apostle ADP James Teye Tetteh joined the Ghana Prisons Service on December 2, 2002, and served for 20 years.
Before his call into full-time ministry, and subsequently into the Ghana Prisons Service, Apostle ADP James Teye Tetteh served as a Senior Programme Officer responsible for United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), training programmes with Non-Formal Education Division (NFED) designated for the northern parts of Ghana.
Speaking at the ceremony, on the topic: “God is not unjust,” Apostle Lt. Col. Benjamin Godson Kumi-Woode, Chaplain of the Ghana Armed Forces, said God is just, righteous, faithful and good towards everyone.
He stated that if righteousness prevailed in society, then there was no need for justice. But if there was no righteousness, then God’s intervention was justice by men.
Reflecting on the Parable of the Master and his three servants, he noted that the two servants who worked diligently were rewarded, while the servant who failed to be productive, faced the consequences of his action.
He, therefore, congratulated and commended Apostle ADP Tetteh, for the good work done and in serving his generation dutifully.
Apostle Lt. Col. Kumi-Woode, who doubles as head of the Chaplaincy Ministry of The Church of Pentecost, appreciated the work done by the out-going chaplain, in reforming and contributing greatly to the development of the prisons in Ghana.
In his response, Apostle ADP Tetteh thanked the leadership of the Ghana Prisons Service led by the Director-General of Prisons (DGP), Mr. Isaac Kofi Egyir and the entire Ghana Prisons Service staff.
He then advised the officers to contribute their part in the development of the Service and to avail themselves wholly to their duties.
The ceremony witnessed great attendance of the Prisons Directorate, leadership and members of the Church of Pentecost, Service chaplains, chaplains of sister security Services, former Directors, and Senior and Junior officers across the country.
Apostle ADP James Teye Tetteh joined the Officer Cadet Corp Intake 18 on 2nd December, 2002, after successfully going through six months of Para-military Training, he was commissioned as a Deputy Superintendent of Prisons on July 13, 2003, and was adjudged the Best Officer Cadet who received the Academic Cane.
He rose through the ranks of the superior corps to the enviable rank of an Assistant Director of Prisons.
He served as a chaplain at the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons, and later became the Eastern Regional Chaplain whose focus was planning and implementing pro-social programmes that were tailored for inmates’ behaviour modification so as to make their re-entry into the society a better one.
By dint of hard work and exceptional performance, he was later transferred to the Prisons Headquarters as in-charge of Director-General’s Secretariat, Secretary for the Prisons Service Council before his appointment as the Chaplain-General in 2016.
It is worth mentioning that, Apostle Tetteh helped to reduce the level of illiteracy among prison inmates so as to read the Bible by themselves, broaden inmates knowledge base on the word of God and deepen their faith in the Lord, championed the establishment of a Bible School in Nsawam Prison and established the Inmates’ Educational Programme in the Nsawam Prison which has been preparing students for the BECE, WASSCE and NVTI since 2009 among others.
Apostle Tetteh received two medals in recognition of his hard work and commendable service to Mother Ghana. They include: Long Service and Good Conduct Award Medal (Prisons Division), and Golden Jubilee Medal Award.
He was honoured with a citation for meritoriously serving the Service for two decades without any blemish.
Present at the farewell service were the Director-General of Prisons, Mr. Isaac Kofi Egyir; the Deputy Director-General in charge of Finance and Administration, Mrs. Josephine Fredua-Agyemang; Director of Prisons (DOP) in charge of Welfare and Human Resource Development, Mr. Francis Omane Addo; the DOP in charge of Technical and Services, Mrs. Patience Baffoe-Bonnie, the DOP in charge of Health, Mr. Samuel Adjei-Attah and DOP in charge of Agriculture, Mr. Hanson Adu-Awuku.
Also present were the former DOP’s Mr. Sylvester rabbles; Mr. Stephen Cofie; Mrs. Dilys Emma Sawyerr-Laryea; the Chaplain-General of the Ghana Armed Forces, Apostle Lieutenant Colonel B. G. Kumi Woode, the Chaplain-General of Ghana Police Service, Very Reverend Father DCOP George Arthur; the Chaplain-General of Ghana Immigration Service, Reverend Superintendent Michael Baakwaw, and former Chaplains-General of the Prisons Service, Very Reverend DDP JKB Appiah Acheampong and Reverend Doctor ADP Gabriel Dankwah.
