Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, a deputy attorney general-designate
• Mr Tuah-Yeboah has opposed death penalty abolition
• He subscribes to the execution of persons sentenced to death by a court of competent jurisdiction
• He said this when he appeared before the Parliament Appointment committee to be vetted for the role of Deputy Attorney General
A Deputy Attorney General-designate, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, has said Ghana does not need to abolish the death penalty from Ghana’s statutes.
According to him, the country is not yet at the level where it will do away with such a law.
Appearing before the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Tuesday, June 15, 2021, the deputy minister-designate emphasized the need to let the law stay.
Mr Tuah-Yeboah averred that such hasty decisions will not benefit the country in the long term.
“I’m a realist and positivist. If we look at some of the murder cases that we’ve seen, especially when it comes to robbery with murder and the callous nature that some of them carry out those actions, I think we need to hold on [with the abolishment of such a law] for some time. [We shouldn’t abolish it] at this stage. I equally also hold this view that as it exists in the USA, if stakeholders may want to venture into grading murders, I subscribe to the full execution of their sentences. If the person is a murderer, and they have to be killed, they must be killed,” he said.
The nominee added that “if murderers have to be killed, they should be killed”. Meanwhile, groups like Amnesty International Ghana have called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Attorney General, and other stakeholders to immediately take steps to abolish the death penalty.
They believe capital punishment robs victims of the basic right to life, hence must be expunged from Ghana’s laws.
Ghana currently has about 160 persons on death row, five of whom are women.
The country has not executed any of these persons for years.
The number includes six foreigners; a Beninois, two Burkinabes and three Nigerians.
Between March and June 2020, nine inmates who were on death row had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.