Madina MP Writes: Abolish The Death Penalty

Great exercise for God and Country.

Deputy Attorney General, Mr Alfred Tuah-Yeboah’s views on the death penalty was an anti-climax for me.

Though I respect his right to his opinion and would not use that as a basis for the rejection of his nomination, I consider his view on the death penalty as very retrogressive and inconsistent with the direction of the state.

Since 1992, no President has signed a death warrant to execute any of our brothers and sisters on the death roll.

On page 58 of the 2020 Amnesty International Global Report on Death Sentences and Executions, Ghana and some 27 countries were described as Abolitionists in Practice.

This is so because there had not been any execution during the last 10 years and are believed to have a policy or established practise of not carrying out executions.

As of the close of 2020, 160 persons comprising 155 men and 5 women were serving death sentences.

With each passing day, they are traumatized and are emotionally and mentally tortured with the sense of waiting to be killed.

The 2010 Constitutional Review Commission’s recommendations that were accepted by the Government of Ghana over 9 years ago show clearly that Ghana’s position on the death penalty is to abolish it.

Contrary to the Deputy AG’s assertions that abolishing the death penalty will lead to increased murders, countries that have abolished the death penalty have rather recorded low crime rates, including low murder cases.

It is time to take the death penalty from our statute books, even if it will take the introduction of the Private Member’s Bill (PMB).

I hope my Private Member’s Bill on this subject gets the necessary support to settle this matter.