The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has chastised President Akufo-Addo’s failure to assent to certain private member’s bills despite using same to make lobbies at the United Nations.
The Speaker, commending the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament for their contribution in the 8th Parliament, singled out the Madina lawmaker, Francis-Xavier Sosu, for sponsoring some of these monumental bills which the President used to make international acclamation.
Speaking at the Professionals Forum of the NDC Saturday, December 28, 2024, Mr. Bagbin recounted how the President called on the Madina legislator to send him soft copies of his draft to make a case at the United Nations for Ghana to be considered on the Human Rights Council.
According to Bagbin, the abolishment of the death penalty which was spearheaded by the private legal practitioner, Sosu, is something that has been embraced by the international community due to the far-reaching consequences associated with its existence.
He explained that the imperfection of the justice system has seen many “ignorant” people put to jail and executed for crimes they did not know anything about. Those errors, in the Speaker’s words, are what makes the abolishment of the death penalty a crucial step in Ghana’s democratic journey.
“…and through the ingenuity and hard work of our members, that the Member of Parliament for Madina, that’s why I didn’t understand why people were contesting him. Francis-Xavier Kojo Sosu, through his initiative, we were able to pass a number of private member’s bills.
“And it is those bills, that this government, including his Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, took to the United Nations, to argue, for us to be given a position in the Human Rights Council of the United Nations. And yet when he came back, he wrote to us that he was not going to assent to some of those bills.
“He personally called the MP to send him soft copies from his phone for him to use for arguments and I went to some of the conferences of lawyers and juries plus members of parliament as to how we managed to pass the death penalty which is one global challenge.
“Because of the imperfection of the justice system, so many ignorant people have been convicted and sentenced to death and executed when later on they discovered that it was done in error,” he explained.
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