Parliament passes Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill 2022, abolishing death penalty
“The Criminal Offences Amendment Act, 2022 is duly read the third time and duly passed," Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin said.
Parliament has repealed the death penalty in new amendments to the Criminal and Other Offences Act 1960 (Act 29).
The amendment bill, properly known as Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill 2022, was passed yesterday during a voice vote on the floor of Parliament and is awaiting presidential assent.
“The Criminal Offences Amendment Act, 2022 is duly read the third time and duly passed," Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin said.
Member of Parliament for the Madina Constituency, Francis Xavier Sosu in June 2021 introduced a private member’s bill for the removal of the death penalty from the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29). The proposal sought to abolish the death penalty for most capital offences under national legislation.
Specifically, the Bill amends sections 46, 49, 49a, 180, 194, and 317a of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) and sections 14,15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 40, 78, and 79 of the Armed Forces Act 1962, (Act 105) to give effect to the recommendations of the 2010 Constitutional Review Commission and Government White Paper on the abolition of Death Penalty.
Latest statistics in Ghana show that there are about 165 convicted persons currently under sentence of death as of the end of 2021.
According to Amnesty International, the resort to the death penalty by states was on the rise, with an increase in global executions by 20 per cent in the 2020 figure, while the number of known death sentences increased by almost 40 per cent (from at least 1,477 in 2020 to at least 2,052 in 2021).
In remarks yesterday, Mr. Sosu described the passaged of the Bill as a necessary and a good thing for Ghana.
“The death penalty is too final. Parliament today did the needful and made Ghana proud in the Comity of Nations by abolishing the death penalty. I think this is a good thing for Ghana,” the MP said.
Amnesty International has also commended Ghana's Parliament for the passage of the amendments, calling it a victory.
“Today’s parliamentary vote is a major step by Ghana towards the abolition of the death penalty. It is also a victory for all those who have tirelessly campaigned to consign this cruel punishment to history and strengthen the protection of the right to life," Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s West and Central Africa director said in a statement.
