Ghana must maintain death penalty in its sanctions regime, to deter persons from engaging in criminal activities, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, a Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice-designate, has advocated.
He further urged for the execution of some prisoners on the death penalty roll, to serve as a reminder to criminals that Ghana’s laws were tough.
Mr Tuah-Yeboah, who made the call in Accra, yesterday, when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament, for his vetting, argued that scrapping death penalty from the country’s laws would be welcoming to criminals and was likely to embolden others to commit murder, knowing very well their lives would be spared.
“We must keep death sentencing in the laws and carry out a few to serve as a deterrent to others, who are engaged in criminal activities.
Scrapping it from our sanctions regime can be detrimental because criminals will now know that they can’t be harmed physically and so they will be emboldened,” he stated.
Mr Tuah-Yeboah, however, said that the Attorney-General’s Office had developed a Non Custodial Bill, which would soon be laid before Parliament, to help in decongesting the country’s prisons.
He said that the current system where both persons on remand and sentenced offenders were imprisoned was problematic, adding that congestion at prisons was likely to result in human rights abuses.
Mr Tuah-Yeboah noted that the legal aid system was saddled with low resource allocation, a situation, which was inhibiting its effectiveness.
“All institutional bodies, including the Ghana Bar Association, must come together to develop a policy that would ensure that members offer free services to the public in contributing to Ghana’s development,” he said.
Mr Tuah-Yeboah stated that the Attorney-General’s Office would review its approach to tackling judgement debt, by prosecuting state actors whose actions were responsible for the debt, saying that “this is intended to make people accountable for their actions.”
Mr Herbert Krapa, a Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry-designate, who also appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament, said that government was committed to enhancing local production of essential food commodities, including sugar and rice.
He explained that the Ministry of Trade and Industry had in furtherance of that commitment, drafted a policy and regulation that would lead to the establishment of an integrated sugar industry.
Mr Krapa said it was necessary for Ghana to take advantage of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), and invest in strategic industries, to be able to export produce and earn foreign exchange.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS
