By Francis Kobena Tandoh
Ghanaian president John Dramani Mahama has granted amnesty to 998 prisoners who were serving various sentences, according to a statement from the presidency late Monday.
The statement, signed by spokesperson to the president and minister for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, observed that the number is out of a total of 1,014 recommended to the president.
“President John Dramani Mahama has, upon the recommendation of the Prison Service Council and in consultation with the Council of State and in accordance with Article 72(1) of the constitution, granted amnesty to 998 prisoners out of a total of 1,014 recommended,” read the statement.
The categories of convicts granted the presidential pardon include 787 first-time offenders, 87 on death sentences to be commuted to life imprisonment, and 51 on life sentences to be commuted to 20-year definite terms.
The rest are 33 seriously ill, 36 aged over 70 years irrespective of their offense, two nursing mothers, and 2 petitions.
Article 72(1) of Ghana’s 1992 constitution states, “The president may, acting in consultation with the Council of State, grant to a person convicted of an offence a pardon either free or subject to lawful conditions; or grant to a person a respite, either indefinite or for a specified period, from the execution of punishment imposed on him for an offense; or substitute a less severe form of punishment for a punishment imposed on a person for an offence; or remit the whole or part of a punishment imposed on a person or of a penalty or forfeiture otherwise due to government on account of any offense.”
This is the first amnesty granted by the Ghanaian president upon assumption of office on Jan. 7 this year. Enditem
Source: Self
Find the statement from the Presidency Communications below:
