Parliament of Ghana, the citadel of Democracy and the arm of the state that has the mandate to legislate or make laws for the citizens, had on Tuesday, July, 25th, 2023 amended our Criminal Offences (Amendment Bill 2022) by abolishing or scrapping the death penalty from our statutes or law books.
When assented to by the President of the Republic, the new law will amend the Criminal Offences Act, 1960(Act 29) to change the punishment of the death penalty to life imprisonment and to provide for related matters or issues.
This move that led to the demise of this punishment was championed by the Member of Parliament for the people of Madina and supported by some members of both the Majority and their Minority counterparts.
It was also opposed by some members from both sides of the House who thought it was not right to abolish the punishment at this time.
What our Parliament has done was simply to say that when someone deliberately kills another person and goes through the stages of arrest, charge, trial, conviction, and sentence, he should just be given life imprisonment and not feel the pain of killing by suffering the same.
I strongly support the assertion or the argument well articulated by Hon Cletus Avoka, NDC member for Zebilla.
He cited for instance, where armed robbers could attack him at his residence at 2 am to rape his wife and some members of his family and later kill him.
“Then these people have the right to live and I, who took my life within 30 minutes, have no right to live?” he asked.
Abolishing the death penalty has far-reaching consequences.
The pain of the family members both nuclear and extended, friends, cohorts, pals, and all can only be assuaged by giving the murderer a life imprisonment, according to the amended law.
This is not right.
These goons will be out there after some time if they are fortunate and they receive a pardon from a President.
Since the President is yet to assent, I will plead with him to take a second look at it.
I also believe that Parliament consultations on this bill were not enough to collate more information, suggestions, ideas, views, and, thoughts.
I fully concur with Hon.Cletus Avoka and disagree with the proponents of the bill.
Parliament will have another opportunity to reconsider the bill.
This is when or if the President decides not to assent to it.
Taking the life of anyone should not be entertained, it must be discouraged and not accepted except when it is within the remit of the law.
Even the supreme law of the country, our grund norm the 1992 Constitution allows a legal killing and the death penalty is a legal killing.
Death Penalty should not be ‘deceased’ in our laws.
My opinion
Ahmed Osumanu Halid
The Servant
