Sosu is pleading for Akufo-Addo to commute the sentences of all of those now on death row to life sentences.
Francis Xavier Sosu, the Member of Parliament for Madina, has made a request to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to commute the death sentences of all of the people who are now on death row to life sentences.
According to him, Ghana would demonstrate that it is acting in good faith by voting to adopt the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill 2022, which will eliminate the death sentence from Ghana's legal system.
On Tuesday, July 25, the bill that would have effectively removed the death sentence from Ghana's legal code was approved by Parliament.
As a result of the Bill, the President will be given the authority to commute death sentences to sentences of life imprisonment.
Although the Criminal Offences Code of Ghana has always included a provision for the death sentence, no President of the Fourth Republic has ever signed it into law.
The vast majority of supporters for human rights had pushed for the abolition of such penalty.
After the bill is passed, no criminal will be subject to the ultimate punishment of execution.
Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Deputy Majority Leader who is also a lawyer, expressed his satisfaction with the "feat" and asked the nation to celebrate such a show of goodwill.
Since well over half a century ago, our legal code has included the option of the death sentence. This has been a source of worry. It gives me great pleasure to announce that, thanks to this revision to the parent act, we have been able to get rid of that portion of the law that deals with the execution of criminals. Simply put, the statutes in our country do not permit the use of the death sentence any longer, he explained.
The representative for Effutu in parliament said, "What we are arguing is that God gives us life, and under no circumstances should it be possible to take a person's life simply because they have committed such an offence. It should be made clear that this does not imply that people who take it upon themselves to end the life of others are being encouraged to do so.
Mr. Sosu, who was a proponent of this measure, stated on the Ghana Tonight show that aired on TV3 on Tuesday, July 25, that "we are looking forward to the president, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo assenting to the bill and then maybe taking other steps." I am writing this letter to the president to ask that all of the individuals who are currently serving time on death row have their sentences commuted to life in prison.
"In this way, it demonstrates some level of good faith with the commencement of Ghana actually and positively moving away from the death penalty regime to a regime of life sentence, a regime of pro-life, a regime in which we have all agreed that we cannot condemn killing while at the same time having a state-sanctioned killing,"
The article, "Sosu appeals to Akufo-Addo to commute all death sentences to life sentences,"
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