Former president, John Dramani Mahama, has voiced his worries over the information contained in the US State 2022 report on Ghana’s violations of human rights.
The U.S. Department of State last week released its 2022 annual Country Report on Human Rights Practices which cited Ghana for several human rights cases of abuse.
The report cited Ghana for a number of human rights abuses including arbitrary or unlawful killings, extrajudicial killings; torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by the government or on behalf of the government among others.
According to the report, although the government took some steps to address corruption and human rights abuses by officials, whether in the security forces or elsewhere in the government, impunity remained a problem.
The report highlighted that corruption, brutality, uneven training, lack of oversight, and an overburdened judicial system contributed to police impunity.
It stated that police often failed to respond to reports of crimes. In many instances, police did not respond to complaints unless members of the public paid for police transportation and other operating expenses.
Speaking during his tour of Kpone Katamanso in the Greater Accra Region, Mr Mahama said “Recently, the US Human Right report has come out and it makes very bad reading.
“Human rights abuses, corruption, torture, so many things. And that is why I said when we come into office we will pursue constitutional review so that we tighten the constitution to ensure that it guarantees our freedoms and rights and make things better.
“We will set up a Governance Advisory Council and that would include Civil Society Organisations, religious leaders, chiefs and ordinary grassroots people.”