By Edzorna Francis Mensah
Ghana is set to abolish the death penalty as Parliament prepares to take the motion for the second and third reading of the bill related to death penalty on Wednesday, July 12, 2023.
The Order Paper for nineteenth sitting of the second meeting of Parliament on Tuesday 11th July, 2023, advertised both the first and third readings of the bill, but the house could not take them due to a number of issues, including the boycott by the minority side on Tuesday.
The purpose of the Bill is to amend the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) to substitute the penalty of life imprisonment for the death penalty and to provide for related matters.
In an exclusive interview with the proponent of the bill and MP for Madina, a well-known human rights lawyer, Francis-Xavier Kojo Sosu, it is not only happy for how far Parliament has come with the bill but “the main sense, when passed, will make Ghana achieve criminal justice reforms and to also align our justice system to the best practices”.
He said, it is important for the amendment because, for about 30 years, Ghana has never carried out a death sentence, even though people are sentenced to death but we are unable to kill them”.
Lawyer, Francis-Xavier also mentioned that, people are put in condemned cells, and some remain there for many years without being killed.
He admonished that there is a need for a policy shift from the imposition of the mandatory death penalty to the imposition of life imprisonment.
The overarching objective contained in the report presented to Parliament by Constitutional, Legal and Parliament Affairs on criminal offences (Amendment) Bill, 2022 is to reform the criminal justice system of Ghana to meet the needs of emerging society and to bring it in tandem with the international best practice of criminal jurisprudence.
BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION FOR THE BILL
The death penalty, also referred to as “capital punishment”, is State-sanctioned execution of individuals convicted for specified offences.
In Ghana, the death penalty is imposed after a conviction for murder, attempt to commit murder,
genocide, or piracy and smuggling of gold or diamond.
By section 304(3) of the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30), execution of the death penalty may either be by hanging or shooting by firing squad.
The imposition of the death penalty as punishment takes its root from the _ retributive theory of punishment. The theory is premised on the principle of an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”; thus, if a person commits murder, the person must be punished in a manner proportionate to the crime of killing another person.
This retribution rational has persuaded some governments and legislators to impose such punitive sentencing.
“The general consensus among all the stakeholders was that the death penalty should be replaced with life imprisonment”/but the responsibility now rests on Parliament to take the necessary action.
The Committee came to the above conclusion at the prior stakeholders’ engagement organised by the Sponsor of the Bill to listen to the views of Ghanaians.
