Expunction of death penalty: Commute all those on death row to life sentences - Sosu urges Akufo-Addo

After the Parliament of Ghana passed a bill on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, to expunge the death penalty in Ghana, the Member of Parliament for Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu, has urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to take a major step with regards persons convicted on such terms.

According to the MP, who has been at the forefront of the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill 2022, President Akufo-Addo should move all persons who are on death row to life sentences, a report by 3news.com has said.

The MP added that if the president does this, it would be a show of good faith with the passage of the Bill.

The Bill, by its framework, empowers the president to be able to move such convicts from the expunged death row to life sentences, the report added.

“We are looking forward to the president, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo assenting to the bill and then maybe take other steps. I am appealing to the president to commute all those who are currently on death row to life sentences.

“That way it shows some level of good faith with the commencement of Ghana actually and positively moving away from the death penalty regime to a regime of life sentence, a regime of pro-life, a regime of we have all agreed that we cannot condemn killing but at the same time have a state-sanctioned killing,” he said in an interview with Alfred Ocansey of TV3, the report stated.

Before the fourth republic, no president has signed the Criminal Offences Code although there had been several calls by human rights advocates for its expunction.

Now that it has been passed, no offender will suffer punishment by death, news that the Deputy Majority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, expressed joy at.

“We have had a death penalty in our statute books for well over 50 years. It has been a concern. I’m happy to say that we have by this amendment of the parent act been able to repeal that provision that deals with the death penalty. So, simply put, the death penalty is no more a punishment in our statutes.

“What we are saying is that God gives us life and under no circumstances should a person’s life be taken merely because of committing such an offence. That is not to say that those who take it upon themselves to take the lives of others are being encouraged to do so,” he is reported to have stated.

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