Ghana abolishes death penalty, replaces it with life imprisonment

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has assented to the Criminal and Other Offenses (Amendment) Bill, 2022, and Armed Forces (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which will abolish the use of the death penalty in Ghana.

President Akufo-Addo’s approval of the two bills, which were passed by the Parliament of Ghana on July 25, 2023, means that the death penalty would now be replaced by life imprisonment.

According to asaaseradio.com, the president approved the bills on Wednesday, August 2, 2023.

The two bills were sponsored by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu.

According to Sosu, the amendment of the two bills would ensure the realization of a free, open, prosperous, inclusive, and secure society, where individual rights and freedoms and the dignity of all persons are truly respected and guaranteed as enshrined in Article 15 of the 1992 Constitution.

Ghana is now the 29th African country to abolish the death penalty from its statute books for ordinary offences, following neighbouring countries, including Sierra Leone, Zambia, Benin, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Equatorial Guinea, among others.

Prior to the amendments, the proposal had received widespread support from key stakeholders, including the President of the Republic of Ghana; the Chief Justice and Justices of the Supreme Court; the Ghana Armed Forces, the Ghana Police and Prison Services; religious organisations; Civil Society Organisations (CSOs); the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association; and the Diplomatic Community.

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