Mr. Joseph Whittall, Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), has called for the annulment of the death penalty from the Criminal Justice System in Ghana.
Mr. Whittal averred those campaigns for the amendment of the provisions in Ghana’s Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29), and Armed Forces Act, 1962 (Act 105) were laudable.
He also asserted that the right to life was imbibed in the 1992 Constitution as the first right, and as commissioned by the Constitution to protect and promote the fundamental rights of all persons in Ghana.
Mr. Whittal made the remarks during an interaction with a delegation from Amnesty International (AI), Ghana, who called on him to discuss AI’s advocacy campaign for the abolition of the death penalty in Ghana.
He said the Commission had over the years, since the first cycling of the death penalty in 2006, in its Universal Periodic Review repeatedly recommended that death penalty was expunged from Ghana’s Law Books.
He suggested that since the death penalty was seen as counterproductive, and for that matter, the general belief, amending the enabling legislation to bring it down to life in prison was something that should be considered in the interim, while effective and efficient measures were put in place to abolish it entirely from the Constitution.
He was unhappy that Ghana as a nation known to be a beacon of democracy and good governance, still had the death penalty in its Books although nobody was executed since 1994.
Mr. Whittal commended the Member of Parliament (MP) for Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu, who introduced the Private Members’ Bill, saying it is a good step in the right direction and called on all stakeholders to galvanize efforts around the Bill through an effective advocacy tool like a memorandum in Parliament.
Ms. Belinda Asamayuah, the AI’s Campaign and Communications Coordinator who led the delegation, appealed to Mr. Whittal to champion the advocacy.
She said it was imperative for the Commission as the National Human Rights Institution mandated to promote and protect all fundamental rights, especially the right to life and dignity, to lead the campaign to abolish the death penalty.
She noted that CHRAJ’s involvement would strengthen AI’s efforts and called on the Commission to provide the technical assistance and expertise needed for the Bill to be passed.
Ms. Asamayuah declared that AI was partnering about 27 stakeholders sharing similar visions in the protection of the right to life, to submit a memorandum in support of the Private Members Bill before Parliament towards the abolition of the death penalty.
She added that Amnesty International had called on the President, the Speaker of Parliament, Faith-Based Organizations, and some Civil Society Organizations to appeal for their support to abolish the death penalty.
Present at the meeting were the Deputy Commissioners of CHRAJ, Mr. Richard Quayson, and Madame Mercy Larbi.
