Human rights lawyer and Member of Parliament for Madina, Francis-Xavier Sosu, has proposed a reformation of Ghana’s criminal justice system, describing it as archaic. “Criminal Justice is reforming all over the world and the people who gave us these laws have long reformed these laws and have moved away… So why are we still putting them on our statutes?” Mr. Sosu said.
He further mentioned that keeping these old statutes without reforming them is a form of legal colonialism. “This is a form of legal neocolonialism because we are carrying on the colonial baggage and unfortunately we are not looking at the peculiar circumstances of our case,” Sosu added.
This comes in response to concerns about the amendment of the country’s sentencing regime, including the passage of the alternative sentencing bill. In an interview with Citi News, the legislator urged the legislature to be guided by the justice systems of developed countries to expedite the passage of the bill.
By: Fauzu Masawudu