A twenty-seven-year-old nursing mother who was incarcerated together with her six-month-old baby at the Kumasi Central Prisons has regained her freedom following the intervention of the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Kofi Opoku Manu. The Regional Minister assisted to pay a fine of GH¢300 which the convict was unable to pay, hence her incarceration, and also gave her pocket money of GH¢100. The nursing mother, who is only known as Yaa Yaa, a native of Kyekyewere in the Afigya Kwabre District of the Ashanti Region, had been convicted of offensive conduct conducive to the breach of the peace in accordance with section 207 of Act 29 of the Criminal Code of 1960. She was ordered to pay a fine of GH¢200 or go to jail for four months with hard labour. The court also ordered her to pay a compensation of GH¢200 to the complainant or spend two months in prison doing hard labour. Since she was unable to pay the total sum of GH¢400, she was subsequently sent to the Kumasi Central Prisons on June 3, 2010 for a period of six months. The Ashanti Regional Minister got to know of the plight of the convict during a recent inspection tour of the prisons in his capacity as Chairman of the Regional Prisons Committee. Mr Kofi Opoku Manu, who expressed concern about the welfare of the innocent baby, offered to raise funds to pay the fine imposed by the court at Kodie in order for the baby to gain her freedom and get proper development Since the convict had already spent about three months behind bars, the fine was reduced to GH¢300 and the regional minister added GH¢100 to be used as pocket money for the nursing mother. She was subsequently released from the prisons yesterday after the payment of the fine. Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana