The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) is poised to engage the Mahama government in a bid to revive the Anti-Witchcraft Bill, which was passed by Ghana’s Parliament but stalled due to former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s refusal to assent to it. Apexnewsgh reports
The Anti-Witchcraft Bill, officially known as the Criminal Offences (Amendment) Bill, 2023, seeks to outlaw witch doctoring, witch finding, and the act of declaring, accusing, naming, or labeling another individual as a witch.
This Private Member’s Bill was introduced by Francis-Xavier Kojo Sosu, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Madina, and other NDC MPs.
Lambert Luguniah, National Representative of CHRAJ, expressed optimism about the new government’s favorable disposition towards the bill. “Our expectation is to engage the new government…My boss, the commissioner, did intimate a few weeks ago that he had had a preliminary engagement with some of the key officers in the government and their disposition is very favorable to the passage of the bill,” Luguniah stated.
CHRAJ plans to formally engage the government once it is fully constituted to ensure the bill is repackaged and presented in the name of the president, rather than as a private member’s bill. This approach aims to avoid any obstacles that hindered the previous attempt to pass the bill.
Source: Apexnewsgh.com