Francis-Xavier Sosu, the MP for Madina Constituency, has urged the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) to take a lead role in legal reforms in the country.
Speaking at the launch of the 2022 Death Penalty Report by Amnesty International (AI) Ghana in Accra, Sosu wondered why the GBA has not yet made an input on the Death Penalty Bill since the legislation was made public.
He said, “The Ghana Bar Association must provide leadership in terms of legal reforms. Every legal reform that borders on human rights must be of interest to the GBA. We must necessarily have their inputs into those laws.
“We hope that between now and the time the laws are passed, the GBA will come out boldly, state their position and provide support for those reforms for the betterment of the country.”
Sosu said the Death Penalty Bill and the Anti-Witchcraft Bill, aimed at promoting human rights in the country, are at the consideration stage in parliament.
He emphasised that it is critical for the country to move away from the death penalty, especially when the judiciary, police, armed forces and religious bodies have agreed that capital punishment should be scrapped from Ghana’s penal code.
Francis Nyantakyi, the board chair of AI Ghana, said the organisation engaged the Judicial Committee of Parliament, media, CHRAJ, faith-based organisations and other institutions last year to submit some memoranda to the legislature on the death penalty bill.
Nyantakyi said AI Ghana also met with the Speaker of Parliament and recently engaged the office of the Chief Justice, who were all in support of the campaign to abolish the death penalty in Ghana.
He said on 4 November 2022, AI Ghana met with President Akufo-Addo and appealed to him to vote in favour of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly draft resolution on the moratorium on the use of the death penalty, which he did.
Genevieve Partington, the director of AI Ghana, said the report represents a comprehensive examination of the state of capital punishment worldwide for 2022.
She said between 2021 and 2022, there has been a 53% increase in executions globally, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. A total of 883 people is known to have been executed across 20 countries in the two areas. Most of the victims were charged with drug-related offences.
Partington said the total number of recorded death sentences imposed on people, however, remained the same, with a slight decrease from 2,052 in 2021 to 2,016 in 2022.
“In Ghana, seven people were convicted of murder charges…By the end of 2022, a total of 172 people were on death row, counting six women and six foreigners,” she said.
Partington also said that prison conditions remain deplorable while some prisoners on death row suffer mental health issues from not knowing when they will be executed.
She urged the government to reimagine a justice system that prioritizes rehabilitation, addresses the root causes of crime and ensures the safety and well-being of all citizens.
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