Member of Parliament for Madina Francis-Xavier Sosu has said he considers the view of a deputy attorney general nominee, Mr Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, on death penalty as “very retrogressive and inconsistent with the direction of the state.”
Mr Tuah-Yeboah, who described himself as a “realist” and “positivist”, said Ghana’s laws on the death penalty must not be scrapped but rather applied if need be.
“If murderers have to be killed, they should be killed”, he told the committee.
According to him, “if we look at some of the murder cases that we’ve seen, especially when it comes to robbery with murder and the callous nature that some of them carry out those actions”, then he is against abolishing capital punishment – at least, for now.
“I equally also hold this view that, as it exists in the USA, if stakeholders may want to venture into grading murders, I subscribe to the full execution of their sentences”, insisting: “If the person is a murderer, and they have to be killed, they must be killed”.
Reacting to this, Mr Sosu in a statement said the 2010 Constitutional Review Commission’s recommendations that was accepted by the Government of Ghana over nine years ago shows clearly that Ghana’s position on death penalty is to abolish it.
He noted that contrary to the Deputy AG’s assertions that abolishing death penalty will lead to increased murders, countries that have abolished death penalty have rather recorded low crime rates including low murder cases.
In Mr Sosu’s view “it is time to take death penalty from our statute books even if it will take the introduction of Private Member’s Bill (PMB).”
Below is Mr Sosu’s full statement
LAWYER FRANCIS-XAVIER SOSU WRITES IN REACTION TO DEPUTY AG’S POSITION ON DEATH PENALTY
Great exercise for God and Country. Deputy Attorney General, Mr. Alfred Tuah-Yeboah’s views on death penalty was an anti-climax for me.
Though I respect his right to his opinion and would not use that as a basis for rejection of his nomination, I consider his view on death penalty as very retrogressive and inconsistent with the direction of the state. Since 1992, no President has signed a death warrant to execute any of our brothers and sister on death roll.
On page 58 of the 2020 Amnesty International Global Report on Death Sentences and Executions, Ghana together with some 27 countries were described as Abolitionists in Practice. This is so because there had not been any execution during the last 10 years and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions.
As at the close of 2020, 160 persons comprising of 155 men and 5 women are serving death sentences. With each passing day, they are traumatized and are emotionally and mentally tortured with the sense of waiting to be killed.
The 2010 Constitutional Review Commission’s recommendations that was accepted by the Government of Ghana over 9 years ago shows clearly that Ghana’s position on death penalty is to abolish it.
Contrary to the Deputy AG’s assertions that abolishing death penalty will lead to increased murders, countries that have abolished death penalty have rather recorded low crime rates including low murder cases.
It is time to take death penalty from our statute books even if it will take the introduction of Private Member’s Bill (PMB).
I hope my Private Member’s Bill on this subject gets the necessary support to settle this matter.
