The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has reacted to the 2022 US State Department Human Rights Report on Ghana.

The executive summary of the report, which was published on the State Department’s website, indicated that there were serious human rights issues in Ghana in 2022.

It cited unlawful killings of persons, serious restrictions to free expression and media, baseless arrests and prosecutions of journalists as well as restrictions to freedom of assembly as serious human rights issues in the country.

“Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: arbitrary or unlawful killings including extrajudicial killings; torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by the government or on behalf of the government; arbitrary arrest or detention; serious restrictions on free expression and media, including violence and threats of violence against journalists, and unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists,” parts of the executive summary read.

The other human rights issues include “substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly; serious government corruption; lack of investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence, including domestic or intimate partner violence; crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or intersex persons; laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults, although not fully enforced; and crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting persons with disabilities”.

The report also indicated that even though the government is taking steps to resolve issues of corruption and human rights abuses by officials, “impunity remained a problem”.

Okudzeto Ablakwa, in a statement shared on social media, said that the report showed that the international community is worried about the high level of corruption in Ghana.

The legislator added that the world is also worried about the necessary brutalities and killings by the country’s security services.

“It is apparent that the international community is deeply worried, particularly about unresolved killings and alarming levels of corruption in Ghana.

“This is the irresistible conclusion when one reads the latest 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices published by the U.S. Department of State.

“It is a national embarrassment for the Country Reports to now have this to say about the state of corruption in Ghana: ‘officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity.' There were numerous reports of government corruption. Corruption was present in all sectors of government…,” parts of Ablakwa’s statement read.

The MP also said that the report also indicated issues surrounding the killings of the Ghanaians in the 2020 elections have still not been resolved which is worrying given the fact the 2024 election is just around the corner.

“The report highlights the 2020 election killings and how none of the investigations officials announced have been completed, and no perpetrator has been brought to Justice after more than 2 years. This is a significantly troubling observation as Ghana prepares for another round of presidential and parliamentary elections next year.

“President Akufo-Addo has heartlessly refused to make any public comment on the killings or commiserate with grieving families even though it occurred under his watch as Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and even though he was the greatest beneficiary of that bloody election,” he wrote.

View Ablakwa’s tweet plus the executive summary of the report below:



Read the full story originally published on April 12, 2023 by state.gov

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