Nana Obiri Boahen, a former deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has opposed the legislature’s decision to remove the death sentence from the constitution, warning that it would promote the use of mob justice.
The attorney indicated his support for mob attacks, by declaring, “I will support mob attack on this note; why should you imprison someone for life for a murder case and describe his punishment, which is death, as a human right issue?”
“What happens to the right of the person who was killed? Doesn’t he/she also have the same right?”, he questioned.
Obiri Boahen continued, reiterating his position, saying, “I’ll repeal this law and reinstate the killings. Because victims have the same right to live as anybody else in our country… You can no longer roam around freely.”
“We have created an atmosphere of fear and panic for ourselves because we pardon and pamper murderers on human right grounds. I’m telling you, if I, Obiri Boahen became the president, you’ll see what would happen in this country. Enough of that ugly noise! Ghanaians are sick and tired of the panic.”
Nana Obiri Boahen
The attorney further explained that life in prison does not effectively discourage crime and issued a warning on the grave repercussions of removing the death penalty. He mentioned the deterioration of discipline in Ghana over time and chastised previous leaders for delaying the death penalty in order to maintain their human rights reputations.
He claimed that this strategy ignores the rights of individuals who have been killed.
Afenyo-Markin Welcomes Death Penalty Repeal
Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, the Deputy Majority Leader and New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu, accepted the abolition of the Death Penalty in Ghana and praised his colleagues in parliament.
Afenyo-Markin described the passage of the Bill as “a day of victory for all Ghanaians.” He said international human rights institutions had taken the position that the Death Penalty provisions in Ghana’s laws was repugnant, which should give way for a new form of sentencing, after being on Ghana’s Statutes Books for well over 50 years.
“The Parliament of Ghana has made the country proud, it has signed onto that which has become an international human rights position. So simply put, the Death Penalty is no more a punishment in our Statutes Books; this is not to say that those who take it upon themselves to take the lives of others are being encouraged to do so. But what we are saying is that God gives us life and under no circumstances should a person’s life be taken because of committing such an offence.
“In place of the Death Penalty, life imprisonment had been introduced, meaning that such a person (the murderer) would not have the opportunity to come back to our society to commit such an offence possibly again.”
Afenyo-Markin
As the death penalty has been abolished by Parliament, Afenyo-Markin encouraged the Executive Arm of Government to now give its approval for the Bill to become law.
“I believe that it is a day for all of us to celebrate, that as a country we respect human rights and we will act in accordance with international best practices when it comes to international human rights. That is not to say that those who take it upon themselves to take the lives of others are being encouraged to do so.”
Afenyo-Markin
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