Godfred Yeboah Dame, Minister of Justice & Attorney-General
The Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General has disclosed that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, last Friday, assented a bill to amend the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30), to formally introduce plea bargaining into the administration of criminal justice in the country.
A statement signed and issued by the sector Minister, Godfred Yeboah Dame, explained that the application of plea bargaining would relate to all offences, except a few set out in the law.
According to him, plea bargaining is a process in criminal justice where an accused relinquishes the right to go to full trial in exchange for some other benefit.
He pointed out that the benefits of plea bargaining to the State includes a reduction in the caseload of the courts and of prosecutors and decongestion of the prisons due to reduced sentencing.
“This, in turn, will aid in the reform of accused persons and the satisfaction of victims of offences through compensation and restitution. Other benefits include saving the State resources through the reduction of protracted trials,” the AG said in the statement.
Mr Yeboah Dame also indicated that, for an accused person, “benefits may include a reduction of the offence charged to a lesser offence, a reduction in punishment for an offence charged or a withdrawal of some of the charges against the accused person.”
Exceptions
Mr Dame added that the said Act 1079 creates exceptions to plea negotiations for offences in the nature of high treason, high crime, rape, defilement, genocide, robbery, kidnapping, murder, attempted murder, abduction, piracy, hijacking and an offence related to public elections.
He explained that the decision to exclude the application of plea bargaining in respect of certain classes of offences was backed by strong public policy considerations.
The Minister indicated that the interest of the State and the need to protect the vulnerable in society were paramount.
Mr Dame, however, stated that in order to ensure a sound and efficient application of the new law, a series of training programmes would be organised for judges, prosecutors in the Office of the Attorney-General, the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Prisons Service and other stakeholders in the legal profession before the law is fully implemented.
He noted that the enactment of the plea bargaining law represents one of the innovations by the Office of the Attorney-General to reform the criminal justice system in Ghana.
The AG further reiterated the commitment of his outfit to ensuring the passage by Parliament of the “Community Sentencing Bill and a general overhaul of the Criminal (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30)” to eliminate undue delays in the prosecution of criminal cases.
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