Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, has criticized President Akufo-Addo for not signing certain private member's bills into law even though he used them to lobby the UN.

Francis-Xavier Sosu, a congressman from Madina, was singled out by the Speaker for proposing some of these historic measures that the President used to garner international praise, while also praising the National Democratic Congress (NDC) members of parliament for their contributions during the 8th Parliament.

Speaking on Saturday, December 28, 2024, at the NDC's Professionals Forum, Mr. Bagbin described how the President asked the Madina lawmaker to provide him with soft copies of his draft so he could argue at the UN for Ghana's inclusion on the Human Rights Council.

Bagbin asserts that the international community has welcomed the repeal of the death penalty, which was led by private attorney Sosu, because of the severe repercussions of its use.

He clarified that many "ignorant" persons have been imprisoned and died for acts they had no knowledge of due to the legal system's flaws. According to the Speaker, these mistakes are the reason why abolishing the death penalty is such an important milestone in Ghana's democratic process.

I didn't understand why individuals were running against the Member of Parliament for Madina because of his creativity and the diligence of our members. Thanks to Francis-Xavier Kojo Sosu's initiative, several private member's bills were passed.

And it was because of those bills that our government, led by His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, went to the UN to make the case for us to be appointed to the UN Human Rights Council. Nevertheless, he informed us in writing upon his return that he would not be endorsing certain of those proposals.


"I attended some of the conferences of lawyers, juries, and members of parliament regarding how we were able to pass the death penalty, which is a global challenge, and he personally called the MP to send him soft copies from his phone for him to use for arguments."

"So many ignorant people have been convicted, sentenced to death, and executed when they later realized that it was done in error because of the justice system's imperfections," he explained.