“Showcase your relevance as lawmakers to Ghanaians”-Alban Bagbin to MPs

Members of Parliament (MPs) have been asked by Speaker Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin to demonstrate their importance to Ghanaians by carrying out their statutory obligations.

“The MP’s job as a soldier for the people is one of their most important responsibilities.

There is much to be done to liberate our people because democracy cannot exist without bettering the life of the people” he spoke.

When Amnesty International Ghana members paid him a courtesy visit in Parliament on Wednesday to discuss the advancement of the advocacy for the abolition of the death penalty, Rt. Hon. Bagbin made these remarks.

The courtesy call, according to Mr. George Aggrey, the departing Board Chair of Amnesty International Ghana, was made to allow the group to speak with the Speaker and lawmakers about the need of passing the Armed Forces (Amendment) Bill and the Criminal Offenses (Amendment) Bill in 2022.

The two proposals have been referred to the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee after passing through first readings in Parliament.

Mr. Aggrey thanked the Speaker’s varied contributions to the process, particularly his prompt responses to all of the petitions from the international Amnesty, which included Ghana, Canada, Germany, Australia, and other nations with comparable interests.

When discussing the significance of changing the Criminal Offenses Act and the Ghana Armed Forces Act, a private attorney named Martin Kpebu stated that convicts facing the death penalty are frequently subjected to torture and live in abhorrent conditions.

According to Mr. William Nyarko, Executive Director of the Africa Centre for International Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, their joint efforts to have the death penalty changed to a life sentence are in support of Amnesty International Ghana.

The Speaker was reassured of the Committee’s resolve to moving the bill along quickly by Bernard Ahiafor, MP for Akatsi South and Ranking Member, Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, who described the committee’s progress to far on the proposed revisions.

Source: Ghanatodayonline.com