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their full dignity. We have a lot of cultural practices which militate against
women and it will be our responsibility to ensure that these are removed.
There were some initiatives which we took when we were in office, but I
believe that we could not complete everything. So I think that it is an area
which we will have to look at and together with the women groups we
should be able to take proper initiatives.
Now the second issue about the death penalty. As a President, you are
primus inter-pari, but two heads are better than one. And in some of these
things you must get a consensus and then of course get some advice. Personally,
I am not opposed to the death penalty; I am not opposed to it
because I believe there are certain crimes for which the death penalty is
appropriate.
But I know there is a revolution against prescribing the death penalty.
And the fact that for so many years we haven’t applied it perhaps shows
that people who are to enforce it have their own reservations about it. But
I think that you look at developments and you also look at the nature of
crimes, how best are you going to deter crimes. I know that criminologists
are going to come out with all kinds of theories whether the death penalty
is going to serve as a deterrent or not. But I think that when you have some
of these things in your statutory books, that in itself serves as a deterrent.
That is my personal opinion. But if somebody can convince me to scrap it
from the books, it is something that I will listen to.
Samuel Kwesi Asare, President of the Ghana Federation of the
Disabled:
Persons with disability in Ghana, by the WHO criterion, constitute 10%
of the population. As a Presidential hopeful, what will you do to improve
their living conditions and also help them to participate in the socio-economic
programme?
Prof . Mills:
This is where our record as a nation has not been very good. The physically
challenged have not been factored in many of our programmes. I
know that in the University of Ghana, until very recently, the construction
of the halls was such that if you were in a wheelchair it would be very
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