By Nasratu Kargbo
The Consultant at the Attorney General’s Office, Lahai Momoh Farma has admitted that no specific decision has been made regarding those inmates who remained on death row before the bill abolishing the death penalty was passed by the Sierra Leone Parliament on 23 July 2021.
The legal official who was responding to questions at the weekly Ministry of Information and Communication Press conference in Freetown said if they were to go strictly by law, those on death row are to be punished under that law. However, he said their sentence might be commuted to life imprisonment, although he mentioned there was no such provision created before the new Act.
Referencing lawyers that normally say the law cannot be retro-active, he stated that after ruling on a case under a particular law, irrespective that there are changes in penalties for the same offence under a new law, the penalties covering the preceding law could still be applicable on those already sentenced. He said the president can use his prerogative of mercy and spare the lives of death row prisoners.
Asked about the possibility of the president granting a murder prerogative mercy, the consultant said there are safeguards to the prerogative of mercy.
He explained that the president does not exercise veto power just like that, stating that veto is not meant to be used for people who are sentenced for murder. When the prerogative of mercy is to be exercised, a committee headed by the Vice President will invite stakeholders like the director of prison and his officers who work out the modalities as to who should be entitled to such an offer.
Farma said that he believes that no president will grant mercy to someone who was found guilty to have intentionally killed and who is serving life.
The consultant said he believes that when a society develops some archaic law they should be changed and replaced with ones that go in consonant with the developments of contemporary society.
He warned that when the bill becomes law, all should be responsible. He advised parents to encourage their children to be responsible and live peacefully and enjoy their freedom in their various communities.
He said Sierra Leone never had death penalty as a traditional practice but said the act was incorporated in the country’s books by the colonial masters.
He said that British came with their culture, way of worship and administration that they introduced in Sierra Leone. He emphatically stated that death penalty was never a traditional practice for punishment in Sierra Leone, stating that what use to be the practice was to banish those found guilty for committing heinous crimes.
The laws that were repealed in the house of parliament were Offences against the Person’s Act of 1861, Robbery with Aggravation, The Larceny Act of 1916 and the Sierra Leone Armed Forces Act 1961, Treason and State Offences Act 1963.
The bill abolishing the death penalty is now before the president for his signature, for it to be enforced. The abolition of the death penalty have attracted global commendation for Sierra Leone’s government and the people.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (30/07/21)
