Expunge death penalty from Constitution — Panellists

Speakers at a conference on the death penalty in Accra have endorsed the recommendation by the Constitution Review Commission (CRC) to expunge the death penalty clause from the country’s Constitution.

They said the death penalty was inhumane, cruel and not a deterrent against the perpetration of crime.

A former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Mr Justice Emile Short; the Director of Amnesty International, Ghana, Mr Lawrence Amesu; and the Ambassador of France to Ghana, Mr Frederic Clavier, gave the endorsement at the roundtable conference yesterday.

Jointly organised by the French Embassy and Amnesty International, the conference, which marked the 12th International Day Against Death Penalty, was organised on the theme:

“Abolish death penalty: Ghana at a crossroads — the way forward”.

Mr Justice Short said the compelling argument for the abolition of the death penalty was the fact that there had been several cases in developed and developing countries where persons had been convicted and sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit.

For instance, he said, recently the use of the DNA technology in the United States had shown that some persons on death row had wrongly been prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit.

“The imperfections of the criminal justice system, which sometimes lead to miscarriage of justice, are one of the strong reasons for the abolition of the death penalty. The death penalty, when implemented, is irreversible,” he said.

Mr Justice Short called for intensive public education by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), CHRAJ and the media on the rationale and justification for the abolition of the death penalty.

Failure to carry out such education, he said, might result in a vote in favour of the retention of the death penalty in a referendum.

Mr Amesu said the belief that the death penalty could serve as a deterrent to the perpetration of crime was erroneous.

He, therefore, called for a collaborative effort to chart the appropriate path that would facilitate the abolition of the death penalty in the country.

Mr Clavier said the death penalty was a violation of human rights and indicated that there was no excuse to keep it in the Constitution.

He said France and other European countries were ready to support any country that showed a commitment to abolish the death penalty.