Francis-Xavier Sosu, the Member of Parliament for the Madina constituency, has revealed that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is in favour of the Criminal Offences Amendment Act, which aims to abolish the death penalty from the country’s statute books.
Among others, the bill recommends the death penalty be replaced with life imprisonment.
The bill which is currently before the House for consideration has sharply divided Members of Parliament who have expressed differing opinions.
Speaking to Accra-based Citi TV on the back of this, the lead sponsor of the bill, Mr Sosu highlighted the President’s support for the abolition of the death penalty. He mentioned that President Akufo-Addo, for the first time, voted in favour of removing the death penalty from the statutes of countries worldwide during a United Nations vote.
“The president [Nana Akufo-Addo] at the UN voted in favour of the abolishment of the death penalty for the first time, and he has even made public statements in support of the abolishment. It was the president that called for a cross-party approach to passing this bill when stakeholders called on him, and so he fully endorses and supports the position.”
Sosu stressed the importance of upholding international conventions protecting human rights while advocating for the abolition of the death penalty. He emphasized that although Ghana has not carried out executions since 1993, there is a concern that a corrupt government could potentially use the death penalty against its opponents, as seen in the case of Myanmar.
“The government in 1991 said there were not going to be executions again, but 12 people were executed by firing squad in 1993 and from colonial times till 1993, 37 people were killed.”
“When you take the case of Myanmar, the country had not used the law for 42 years, but it was there on its books and last year when there was a military takeover, they used it against their opponents and gave legal reasons where four leaders were killed, and a hundred others were convicted to death.”
The stance of President Akufo-Addo in support of replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment aligns with the broader international trend towards the abolition of capital punishment.
