Psychologist wants law that criminalizes suicide repealed

A Social psychologist and Child Development Expert, Miss Mavis Gyankromaa Oti is calling for a total repeal of the Law that criminalizes suicide.

According to her, the Law if not reversed, has the tendency to rather aggravate suicide cases in Ghana.

The criminal offences Act 1960, (Act 29) sees abetment of suicide and attempted suicide as a crime, punishable by law.

But speaking on Accra based Atinka 104.7 FM, Miss Oti intimated that what Ghana should do is to rather decriminalize the law in order to save more lives.

The Social Psychologist who is also a Lecturer at the University College of Management Studies, Accra explains that suicide cases are more psychological and mental in nature, hence must be treated as such.

She opines that when people have the notion that when they attempted suicide and failed they cannot be spared, then they will be determined to end it all, a thing she said doesn't augur well for a nation like Ghana, battling with suicide cases.

Miss Mavis Gyankromaa Oti is the latest to have joined a group of Psychologists who are calling for a review of the law on suicide.

Ghana in recent years has experienced alarming rate of suicide cases, a phenomenon that needs urgent attention and care.

The Social psychologist also reiterated that stringent measures are being put in place to end suicide completely.

To this end, she advised every Ghanaian to be each other's keeper so as to prolong lives.