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Ghana’s parliament has officially repealed the death penalty from its statute books following the approval of an amendment to the Criminal and Other Offences Act. The amendment bill, championed by Madina MP Francis Xavier Sosu, was successfully passed on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, and is now awaiting the president’s assent.
Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Deputy Majority Leader, expressed his delight in passing the amendment bill, considering it a cause for celebration, especially since international human rights institutions had previously condemned the death penalty provision as repugnant. The Criminal and Other Offences Act amendment creates space for new forms of sentencing.
Afenyo-Markin emphasized that removing the death penalty from the statute books is not intended to condone murder, an offense that used to lead to the death penalty. Instead, the aim is to uphold the sanctity of life and ensure that no one’s life is taken as a punishment for committing a crime. The amendment replaces the death penalty with life imprisonment, preventing the possibility of such offenders recommitting such crimes in society.
In the past, several civil society organizations in Ghana had advocated for abolishing the death penalty. Previously, capital punishment was mandatory for certain offenses, including murder, treason, and genocide. However, Ghana had executed no convicts on death row since 1993, the year of its return to civilian rule, when twelve people convicted of armed robbery or murder were executed by firing squad.
According to a report by Amnesty International, until the end of 2020, 160 people, comprising 155 men and five women, were under the death sentence in Ghana. Six foreign nationals from Benin, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria were among them. By repealing the death penalty, Ghana takes a significant step toward respecting human rights and adopting alternative forms of punishment for serious offenses.
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Source: Omanghana.com
