Remove death penalty from Constitution - Lawyer urges

In an ongoing discussion to consider reforms in the 1992 Constitution, a private legal practitioner, Suzzy Afutu has suggested the scrapping of the Death Penalty Clause from the Statutory book. According to her, there are advanced ways of seeking retaliatory measures for victims of murder, and that sentencing a suspect to death does not necessarily give a victim justice. Mrs. Afutu who was speaking at a roundtable discussion for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) organized by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), also encouraged judges to use the newly introduced Victim Offender Mediation to settle cases, even those that involve murder. This she said would also help decongest the prisons. “Now there are advanced ways of settling cases and of them is the Victim Offender Mediation which involves allowing the suspect to ask for forgiveness from the victim. It should not always be putting suspects into prison or punishing them as a means of retaliating in the same manner as they offended the victim as in the case of murder.” “Since the era of the multi-party system, no President has used the Death Penalty clause so its existence in the constitution is unnecessary. It must be removed,” she argued. The Chairperson of the NCCE, Ms. Kathleen Addy the discussion is meant to sustain the calls for Constitutional reforms for action to be taken. “The Commission has held earlier engagements to echo the voices of Ghanaians who are calling for Constitutional reforms. This discussion is not just for rhetoric. We would have engagements with other groups and the views and opinions would be collated and presented to parliament to trigger an action,” she said. The discussion was on the theme, “Three Decades of Uninterrupted Constitutional Rule:” Revisiting the Agenda for Reforms

In an ongoing discussion to consider reforms in the 1992 Constitution, a private legal practitioner, Suzzy Afutu has suggested the scrapping of the Death Penalty Clause from the Statutory book. According to her, there are advanced ways of seeking retaliatory measures for victims of murder, and that sentencing a suspect to death does not necessarily give a victim justice. Mrs. Afutu who was speaking at a roundtable discussion for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) organized by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), also encouraged judges to use the newly introduced Victim Offender Mediation to settle cases, even those that involve murder. This she said would also help decongest the prisons. “Now there are advanced ways of settling cases and of them is the Victim Offender Mediation which involves allowing the suspect to ask for forgiveness from the victim. It should not always be putting suspects into prison or punishing them as a means of retaliating in the same manner as they offended the victim as in the case of murder.” “Since the era of the multi-party system, no President has used the Death Penalty clause so its existence in the constitution is unnecessary. It must be removed,” she argued. The Chairperson of the NCCE, Ms. Kathleen Addy the discussion is meant to sustain the calls for Constitutional reforms for action to be taken. “The Commission has held earlier engagements to echo the voices of Ghanaians who are calling for Constitutional reforms. This discussion is not just for rhetoric. We would have engagements with other groups and the views and opinions would be collated and presented to parliament to trigger an action,” she said. The discussion was on the theme, “Three Decades of Uninterrupted Constitutional Rule:” Revisiting the Agenda for Reforms