Death penalty repeal: There will be lots of assassins in Ghana – Solomon Owusu

A communications team member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Solomon Owusu has said that he foresees an increase in the number of assassins in the country after Parliament's passage of the Criminal Offences Amendment Act, 2022 which seeks to replace the death penalty with a life sentence.

In Ghana, the death penalty is imposed after a murder conviction, attempt to commit murder, genocide, or piracy and smuggling of gold or diamond.

However, some human rights lawyers assert that the death penalty is too conclusive and irreversible, hence demanding a replacement with a life sentence.

Passing the bill, Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, said, “The Criminal Offences Amendment Act, 2022 is duly read the third time and duly passed.”

The Deputy Majority Leader, Lawyer Alexander Kwamena Afenyo Markin said the passage of the bill calls for celebration as a country, while the MP for Madina, Lawyer Francis-Xavier Sosu, says MPs have made the country proud by removing the death penalty.

But commenting on the matter on Ghana Kasa on Kasapa FM and Agoo TV on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, Solomon Owusu condemned the move by Parliament saying the decision has dire consequences.

“What I see is that there will be a lot of assassins in this country. Do you know that people hire others to go and kill persons they have issues with? You’re aware there’s a Presidential pardon, so for instance…a typical case scenario, I want to be in power to rule Ghana, and I hire you to kill this person to enable me to get power. Once I secure power, there’s something called Presidential pardon which I’ll use as the President to release the convict from prison. If this is done, where will we be heading to as a country” he quizzed.

Solomon Owusu also slammed the MPs for voting to abolish the death penalty without consulting the constituents whom they represent in Parliament.

“The Parliamentarians who voted to repeal the death penalty, did they engage we the constituents they represent in parliament? My MP never held any engagement with us his constituents. Where do these MPs derive their authority to make certain decisions in parliament on our behalf? If there’s any law that the President should not assent to, this is one of them because there has not been proper engagement with the people of this country. The death penalty shouldn’t have been repealed; it should still be on our books.”

Although the death penalty was inherited from the colonial administration as a punishment for murder, attempted murder, genocide, piracy, and smuggling of gold or diamonds, successive presidents of Ghana have not signed a death warrant for the execution of offenders since 1993.