Public forum discusses death penalty
The abolition of the death penalty as contained in the report of the Constitutional Review Implementation Committee (CRIC) came under severe criticism at a public forum in Koforidua last Thursday.
Advertisement
While majority of the speakers insisted that the death penalty should be sustained but the mode of execution should be changed, others were of the view that convicts should rather be incarcerated for life.
CRIC
Although the death penalty is currently enshrined in the constitution and a number of convicts, have over the last decade been sentenced to death for murder and armed robbery none of the death sentences have been carried out.
Members of the CRIC were in Koforidua to solicit public input for the review of some of the constitutional provisions.
The forum was organised by the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) with support from the government, the Danish Development Agency (DANIDA), the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
It was attended by a cross section of the society including traditional rulers, assembly members and heads of the security services in the region.
Life sentence
The debate on the abolition of capital punishment started when a member of the CRIC, Mrs Estelle Appiah, said after collating views countrywide on a number of issues in the 1992 constitution, including the death penalty, it was gathered that most people suggested it should be replaced with a life sentence.
She said the abolition of the death penalty would, however, be subjected to a referendum.
ER Police boss disagrees
The Eastern Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr Akuriba Yaagy, disagreed that the death penalty should be abolished.
He said if that was done, armed robbers and murderers in particular would continue to engage in their criminal activities knowing they would be spared death at the gallows.
Mr Yaagy, therefore, suggested that the death penalty should be maintained but the mode of execution be made similar to what pertained in other jurisdictions.
While other speakers agreed with the Eastern Regional Police boss, others dissented.
56 clauses
Another member of the CRIC, Dr Ghesika Agambile, took the gathering through 56 clauses of the proposed constitutional amendments such as services of processes in Parliament, composition and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, retirement age and granting of more powers to the Media Commission to carry out its duties.
He said the draft bill on the constitutional amendments also stipulated that the President should nominate five persons to compete for the position of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executive.
Earlier, the Chairman of the CRIC, Prof E.V.O. Dankwa, said from January 2010 when the CRIC was formed to date, a total of 83,161 presentations on various issues in the 1992 Constitution for amendments had been received from people from all walks of life throughout the country.
According to him, while issues on the entrenched constitutional provisions would be determined by a referendum, those on the non-entrenched would be considered by Parliament.