Government has accepted the recommendation by the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) to abolish the death penalty.
Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Dr. Dominic Ayine at a press conference on Thursday, July 30, said the relevant provisions of Articles 3, 13, 19 and 72 will be amended accordingly.
He explained that offences that previously attracted the death penalty will now attract life imprisonment.
“The death penalty is inconsistent with the constitutional right to life and with Ghana’s international human rights obligations,” the Attorney-General remarked.
The Committee made numerous proposals to expand the rights protected in Chapter Five of the Constitution: economic, social and cultural rights, the rights of women, children, persons with disabilities, older persons and the youth, the right to healthcare, the right to housing, the right to a clean and healthy environment, the right to food in custody, and more.
The Government said it accepts the spirit of virtually all of these proposals but raises a concern of procedural burden if each of these proposals enshrined in Chapter 5 of the constitution is tto go through a national referendum.
“But here is the difficulty. Chapter Five is entrenched. Every amendment to it requires a national referendum. Subjecting each of these new rights to a referendum would impose a procedural burden disproportionate to the gain.
“The Constitution itself shows us the way out. Article 33(5) provides that the rights expressly mentioned in Chapter Five are not to be regarded as excluding others which are inherent in a democracy and intended to secure the freedom and dignity of man,” Ayine said.
Government noted that it will enact a comprehensive Human Rights Act which will elaborate on the rights already guaranteed, extend protection to the new categories of rights identified by the Committee, incorporate Ghana’s obligations under the international human rights treaties and provide detailed enforcement mechanisms.
“It will be justiciable and enforceable. And because it is a statute, it can be improved as standards evolve and as our institutional capacity develops,” he stated.
The A-G stressed that most of the Committee’s recommendations on fundamental rights will be enacted into the Act.
