Thirty years have now gone by since Ghana used its gallows, a fact that indicates the country’s respect for human life. It also means that Ghana is one of about 42 nations – many of which are in Africa – that the United Nations calls abolitionist de facto because they have not executed anyone for at least a decade.
However, there is a paradox. Not only does Ghana retain the death penalty as a sentence for three crimes (murder, treason and genocide), death is the mandatory punishment for them. The law gives the judges no choice in sentencing for these crimes. Last year, the courts sentenced seven people to death. At the end of 2022, there were 176 inmates on death row, and the list grows every year.
