Amnesty International Ghana and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) have urged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to pass the anti-witchcraft bill and expedite actions for the passage of other bills.
They said the President did not only decline signing the bill into law to proscribe accusations of witchcraft but also did not give attention to the call for a repeal of Section 76 of the Electronic Communications Act, 2008 (Act 775) and Section 208 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960, (Act 30).
Amnesty International Ghana and CHRAJ said this at the launch of Amnesty International’s Human Rights and Death Penalty Reports 2023, and the launch of Ghana’s Death Sentences and Executions report which covers the period of 2023.
The Report on Ghana noted that the Affirmative Action bill, aimed at increasing the participation of women in public office, introduced in Parliament since 2016, had its first official reading in Parliament on October 31, 2023.
It said the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly continued to be threatened, where authorities used excessive force to disperse protesters.
Madam Genevieve Partington, Country Director, Amnesty International Ghana, said the Appropriate Sexual Rights and Family Values bill was a flagrant violation of the rights to privacy, non-discrimination, and freedom of expression guaranteed under international human rights law.
“The Ghana Health Service revealed that 27 pregnant women in Bawku Municipality had died between 2021 and 2022 due to their inability to access medical services. While some were
unable to get to the hospital on time, others died due to staff shortages,” she said.
She lamented that four years after the murder of Ghanaian investigative journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale, no one had been brought to justice, adding that there remained several human rights challenges, which required the immediate action of the State.
Mr Joseph Whittal, Commissioner, CHRAJ, said Ghanaians could not wait for the delay in resolving the constitutional and procedural issues the President alluded to, for which reason he had refused to sign the bills.
“We should have resolved whatever constitutional matters that affect the anti-witchcraft and death penalty bills. The President should not leave these bills beyond his term. He made a promise that the Affirmative Action Bill would be passed before he left office. It is seven months to the end of his term.”
Mr Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, Deputy Attorney General and Minister for Justice, said all the things the Government needed to do pertaining to the findings and recommendations in the report would be done.
