The legislation on Vigilantism and Related Offences, 2019 has been rescinded on the grounds of legal inconsistency and mistake, and passed for the second time in Parliament.
A motion of rescission was filed by the Majority Leader and the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Attorney General, Ms. Gloria Akuffo.
In moving for the motion of rescission on the floor of Parliament, Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu stated that certain mistakes ought to be corrected in the definition of Vigilantism and its motive in the Explanatory Memorandum.
The Majority Leader added that the maximum jail sentence of fifteen years for Vigilantism offences in Section 7 of the law is inconsistent with the provisions in the 1992 Constitution, and that the years should be reduced to ten.
Section 7(1) of the Vigilantism and Related Offences Bill, 2019 states that “subject to the Constitution, a person shall not;
(a) directly or indirectly, form, organise or promote the organisation of a vigilante group;
(b) subscribe as a member of a vigilante group; or
(c) act as a member of a vigilante group.
Session 7(2) stiputes that “a person who contravenes Subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a term of imprisonment of not less than five years and not more than fifteen years”.
The new rendition was thereafter, effected as proposed by the Majority Leader, and the maximum years of jail sentence for vigilantism offences was amended to ten years.
The Third Reading of the new rendition was subsequently, moved by the Minister for Planning, Professor George Gyan-Baffour, on behalf of the Minister for Justice and Attorney General.
Source: GhanaJustice/S.Ayisi
