APA – Accra (Ghana)
The Ghanaian Parliament on Tuesday voted to abolish the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill 2022, which seeks to abolish the death sentence in the country.
When the bill is assented to by President Nana Akufo-Addo, Ghana will join the league of nations that have abolished the death sentence.
According to the Parliamentarian, Hon. Francis Sosu, of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who tabled the private member’s bill, the passage of the bill “is a great advancement of the human rights record of Ghana”.
“We have conducted research, from the constitutional review to opinion polls, and they all show that majority of Ghanaians want the death penalty removed,” local media reports quoted Sosu as saying.
No one has been executed in Ghana since 1993, although 176 people were on death row as of last year, according to the Ghana prisons service.
Ghana’s parliamentary committee report stated that the bill will amend the state’s Criminal Offences Act to substitute it with life imprisonment.
The other African countries that have abolished the death penalty are Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone and Zambia.
GIK/APA
Ghana’s Parliament votes to abolish death penalty
