Amnesty International Ghana calls on all Members of Parliament to vote in favour of the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill 2022 and the Armed Forces (Amendment) Bill 2022 seeking to remove the death penalty from the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 and the Armed Forces Act 1962.
The pending bills would be an important step to abolish the death penalty. However, Amnesty International regrets that the Ghana Constitution continues to require the death penalty as punishment for high treason.
While we are hopeful of the abolition of the death penalty this year, we would like to call on all stakeholders and partners who support the cause to engage the media extensively and throw more light on the need to remove this harsh punishment from our status books.
We have had endorsements from the President of the Republic of Ghana, Former President Mahama, the Speaker of Parliament, Religious bodies, the Ghana Armed Forces, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and encourage the public to join our campaign to remove the death penalty from our statute books.
Death penalty does not deter crime, it rather takes away the humanity in us.
Genevieve Partington, Director of Amnesty International Ghana