Member of Parliament for Madina, Francis Xavier Sosu said Ghana has not executed anybody under the death penalty under the 1992 fourth Republican Constitution despite having it on its status books for a very long time.
He made this remark on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, when a United Kingdom (UK) based organization, Death Penalty Project, led by its Executive Director, Saul Lehrfreund called on the 1st Deputy Speaker to solicit the support of Ghana’s Parliament in this endeavour.
“Our research shows that if we were able to do that, we would achieve 95 per cent abolishing the death penalty, and even if we would retain the death penalty in the constitution, it would be for treason and high treason”, he stated.
The First Deputy Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu has pointed out that Ghana is willing to be part of the international community in this regard by amending its law.
He said Ghana’s Parliament and Ghanaians will be guided in the course of this journey by Ghana’s culture and history; saying “we will listen to the voice of our people as we go out on this matter”.
The Executive Director of the Death Penalty Project, Saul Lehrfreund, pledged to assist Ghana’s Parliament to take the death penalty off its statutory books.
He added that Ghana would join the majority of the world who have rejected capital punishment as an abuse of human rights, indicating that there are one hundred and twenty (120) countries globally that have rejected the death penalty with just a few countries left to do so.
Mr Saul Lehrfreund called on the First Deputy Speaker with Carulyn Hollhe from the Oxford University, Meg Govld, Death Penalty Project, Abdul-Razak Yakubu British High Commission and Hannah Crothers Australian High Commission