The Community Service Act 2026 in retrospect

Sometime in August 2015 a circuit court sitting at Akyem Swedru presided over by his Honour Emmanuel Brew sentenced a 30-year-old convicted goat thief, Stephen Ohene Agyekum, to be paraded through the streets of Akyem Swedru under police escort with a placard with the inscription “I am a goat thief”.

This was viewed by a cross section of the public as an attempt by the judge to bring some alternative punishment to petty thievery which could have otherwise attracted a considerable long custodial sentence. However, this attempt stepped far beyond the judge’s power, outside the sentencing guidelines of the court and offended the sensibilities of the human rights community.

The Community Service Act 2026 (Act 1075) come into force when President John Dramani Mahama assented it on August 26, 2026. The Act establishes community service as a lawful alternative to imprisonment for certain offences with the main aim of reducing the pressure on our prison facilities, make punishments humane and making convicted persons more beneficial to the community.

The law also emphasizes the rehabilitation and social reintegration of particularly petty offenders vis a vis the interests of victims and the community. It puts to use other means by which offenders may, despite their folly, through their effort of mind and muscle bring some tangible benefits to the community aside being housed, fed and clothed by the tax payer.

The act establishes the institutional framework by creating the Community Service Secretariat from the national to the community level and a rehabilitation fund backed by financial allocation of Parliament, moneys realised from the services rendered by persons under a community service order and third-party donors. It provides for critical focal persons who will supervise the successful implementation of the law.

The act defines community service as “unpaid public work performed by a convicted person within a community for the benefit of that community for a period of not more than six months”. The scope of the public work includes anything from manual labour to professional services.

The first is physical work that promotes afforestation, land reclamation and any other form of environmental conservation. This may include ordering convicts to plant trees providing labour for the reclamation of galamsey sites. This kind of order may be suitable for those convicted for offences against the environment.

The second could be an order for general cleaning of the street, a park, a gutter or any other public place. This order may include the cleaning up of beaches and markets. This may be suitable for persons convicted of sanitation related offences.

Thirdly, an offender may be ordered to undertake maintenance work in public schools, hospitals or any other institution that provides a public service. A convict may be assigned to a school to serve as a day and/or night watchman in a school or market or a janitor.

Also, the law allows a convict to be ordered by the court to undertake or participate in construction and maintenance of public property. A convict may be ordered by the court to support in the building of schools, hospitals and other public infrastructure as a labourer or bricklayer.

Further a convict who is a professional may be ordered by the court to render specialist or professional service that will benefit the community. A convict who is a carpenter may be ordered to rehabilitate broken down furniture in designated schools. A tailor convict may be ordered to sew or perform alterations on the uniforms of school pupils in the community. A lawyer who is convict may have certainly lost his practice license but may be used as a mouth piece to advocate against crime in the community. A doctor who is convicted may be ordered by the court to render some limited medical services to underserved communities.

Finally, the law recommends any manual work that the court may approve in consultation with a community service officer. This broad scope of orders available to the court gives it very wide discretion to be creative within the framework of the law.

While the law aims at given some creative discretion to the court in matters of sentencing, it has put in place robust procedural safeguards to ensure that the rights of offenders are observed as far as possible and prevent discretional abuse by the courts. The law provides specific eligibility and suitability of offences and offenders who qualify for a community service sentence and excludes most serious crimes.

For example, the law only allows community service order to be made in respect of offences that are punishable by a term of imprisonment of not more than three (3) years with or without a fine or both. Such offences may be classified at misdemeanors such as threat of harm, offensive conduct and indecent assault. On the flip side the law prohibits community service orders for offences triable under indictment such as murder, robbery and other serious felonies.

In order for the constitutional fair trial context, the law provides some rigorous procedural requirement to the making of a community service order. It mandates that a community service order be made only after a thorough social enquiry report is conducted to ascertain whether or not the offender’s physical health and mental faculties and other social circumstances before a community service order may be made. For instance, a person who is a serial offender is not likely to get a community service sentence as compared to a first-time offender and a person with disabilities will be given a service that may fall within his physical ability. Also, the scope of community service to be imposed on a woman may differ from that of a man or a juvenile or young offender. The law further mandates confidentiality and the protection of information relating to the offender and the order.

Community service order like all court orders needs enforcement to ensure that its goals of reformation, rehabilitation and service to the community are realized. It therefore provides for strict supervision of the offender while undertaken community service pursuant to a court order. Community service officers (called probation officers in other jurisdictions) are responsible for the monitoring, compliance and progress report on offenders ordered to undertake community service.

Just like all court orders, a breach or non-compliance to a community service order may lead to consequences such as review of the order, its total revocation and the reinstatement of custodial sentence.

While the act aims at relieving pressure of our prisons one would have wished that it extends some arm of magnanimity to offenders already incarcerated for petty offences. The constitutional provision of non-retrospectivity only applies to laws that impose burdens or obligations on citizens. It would have been far reaching if it allows convicts serving long jail terms for petty offences to apply for a review of their sentences for the possible substitution of a community service order.

The law will also have been far reaching if there is a complementary provision for the release of prisoners on probation for good behaviour. For instance, the sentencing regime will have to include a framework where even some felonious convict may be eligible for parole after serving a certain number of years for good behaviour. The Ghana justice system does this from time to time by recommending some prisoners for pardon under the president’s prerogative of mercy but a comprehensive law on parole will serve a much greater purpose.

Finally, the sentencing regime may also benefit from virtual imprisonment by the use of electronic anklets which will restrict the movement of convicts sentenced to house arrest. In such instances such prisoners are only allowed to move within a certain radius of their residence or work while being electronically monitored. If such a system is available a community service officer may not have to have physical contact with an offender under his supervision. One community service officer can supervise hundreds of convicts from remote locations. With the availability of GPS technology our universities and independent App developers can develop Aps that can facilitate the achievement of the goals of the Community Service sentencing regime.

When the above suggestions are implemented it will decongest the prisons and improve the general conditions there since only a few offenders will have to do time behind four corners of a brick, mortar and barbed wire prisons.

By Napoleon-Bonaparte Afenyo & Sharon Dzifa Torsu

***The authors are Lawyers with ADU-KUSI PRUC Attorneys & Consultants, Accra ***

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