165 currently on the death row in Ghana – Amnesty Int’l Report reveals
This was revealed at a news conference to launch its Death Sentence and Execution Report.
Amnesty International has revealed that a total of 165 prisoners in Ghana are currently on death row.
It adds that seven(7) persons were sentenced to the death penalty only in 2021.
This was revealed at a news conference to launch its Death Sentence and Execution Report.
Speaking at the program, the Vice Chairman of the International NGO, Elizabeth Adomako reiterated that the death penalty is a breach of the right to life irrespective of the fact that such persons have not been executed in Ghana since 1993.
As a result, she made a passionate appeal to the Parliament of Ghana to speed up the amendment of the Criminal Offences Act, which will enable the death penalty to be replaced with parole because the execution arising from the death penalty cannot be reversed, unlike a normal prison sentence.
Contributing to the topic, the Campaign and Communications Coordinator of the Amnesty International, Belinda Adikie examined the rankings of some African Countries relative to the death penalty and indicated that Ghana’s failure to abolish, has reduced its ranking compared to countries like Gabon, Benin, Guinea, Togo, etc.
Even though, Madam Adikie admitted that Ghana has made some gainful strides in its human rights situation, pockets of occurrences such as police brutality, environmental degradation, sexual and gender abuse required serious and immediate governmental action.
Also, she was full of concern for the deplorable conditions of prisoners and especially the ones on the death penalty, relative to their mental health which stems from these conditions.
The Madina MP, Francis Xavier Sosu, who was also present, noted that the death penalty is unjustifiable thus the resolve of Parliament’s Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of which he is a ranking member, to pass the bill to get a 90 percent abolition of it.
