Death Penalty: UK Organisation Praises Ghana's Parliament For Repealing Decades-Old Provision From Law Books

• A UK-based NGO has stormed the Parliament of Ghana to commend the Speaker Alban Bagbin and MPs for repealing the death penalty
• Executive Director of the Death Penalty Project UK, Saul Lehrfreund told the Speaker when he visited Parliament that the repeal of the law was truly historic
• Lehrfreund thanked the Speaker especially for his historic leadership and guidance without which Parliament may not have repealed the law

Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin and the entire Legislature has received praise from Death Penalty Project UK for repealing the death penalty from Ghana's statute books.

The organisation is a legal action NGO at Simons Muirhead & Burton LLP that uses the law to protect prisoners facing execution and achieve fairer and more humane justice systems.

Death Penalty Project UK visits Ghana's Parliament

Executive Director of the Death Penalty Project UK, Saul Lehrfreund visited Parliament recently to thank the House and the Speaker for his historic leadership and guidance that enabled the law to be scrapped from Ghana's law books.

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“As a Project, we will like to thank the Parliament of Ghana and especially Rt. Hon. Speaker for his historic leadership and guidance without which Parliament may not have been able to take these bold steps," Lehrfhreund said.

Ghana's Parliament on Tuesday, July 25 and Thursday, July 27 2023, made history by passing the Criminal and Other Offenses (Amendment) Bill, 2022, and Armed Forces (Amendment) Bill, 2022.

The legislature will substitute life imprisonment for the death penalty.

Human Rights and Public Interest Lawyer and Member of Parliament for Madina Constituency, Francis-Xavier Kojo Sosu led efforts for the passage of the law.

Ghana joins 29 other countries that have abolished the death penalty

Ghana has now joined 29 other countries that have abolished the death penalty from its law books for ordinary offences.

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The following African countries have also repealed the death penalty from their statute books:

• Sierra Leone,
• Zambia,
• Benin,
• Ivory Coast,
• Senegal, Togo,
• Burkina Faso, Chad and
• Equatorial Guinea, among others.

Akufo-Addo supports the removal of the death penalty

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh reported that the Madina MP Sosu disclosed recently that Nana Akufo-Addo also wants the death penalty abolished.

Sosu said Akufo-Addo's past stances on the matter show he is ready to remove the death penalty from Ghana's laws.

The MP warned that the death penalty could be abused by a future government.

Duncan-Williams backs death penalty repeal

Also, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams earlier called for the removal of the death penalty from Ghana's laws.

Duncan-Williams said he believed God was the giver of life and thus was the only one who had the right to take a life.

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The Overseer of the Action Chapel International ministry urged the government to abolish the death penalty.

Source: YEN.com.gh