1) Information on Law 4012) The usual punishment for those convicted of "sabotaging the economy of Ghana"3) What is the Police Gazette? [GHA4002]

1) Sources consulted do not refer to Law 401. Numerous sources do refer to PNDC (Provisional National Defence Council) -Law 4, which "provides for indefinite detention without trial if the PNDC determines it is in the interest of national security." [ U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989), p. 135; see also Amnesty International, Urgent Action, AI Index: Afr 28/04/89; 14 June 1989.] 2) After the military coup that brought Jerry Rawlings to power in Ghana in June 1979, nine senior government officials of the previous government were executed for economic mismanagement and corruption. [ Cees Flinterman, Human Rights in Ghana: Report of a Mission by Professor Cees Flinterman for the International Commission of Jurists and Netherlands Committee for Human Rights, (Utrecht: SIM, 1984), p. 7.] In February 1982, the National Investigation Committee (NIC) (PNDC Law No.2), was established to investigate corruption in public office. [ Louise Gore, The Rawlings' Regimes in Ghana 1979-1983: The Political Economy of Military Intervention, (Kingston: Queen's University, SNID Occasional Papers No. 84-102, 1984), p.24; Donald I. Ray, Ghana: Politics, Economics and Society, (London: Frances Printer, 1986), p. 59.]

In January 1982, the ruling PNDC established the Public Tribunals. They operate in addition to the regular court system, and reportedly have jurisdiction of a wide range of offences, including charges of sabotaging the economy. Many of the crimes handled by the Public Tribunals now carry the death penalty. The Public Tribunal Law was amended in August 1984 to create a National Public Tribunal which acts as an appeal court. [ Gore, pp. 23-4; Amnesty International, "Ghana: Three sentenced to death for murder," AI Index: Afr 28/03/89, 12 June 1989; Flinterman, p. 15.]

A human rights survey done by The Economist, states that the charge economic sabotage carries a possible death sentence with it. [ Charles Humana, The World Human Rights Guide (London: Economist Publications Ltd., 1986), p. 105.] On 31 May 1985, three people were executed for "conspiring to commit crime and committing an act with intent to sabotage the Ghanean economy." They had been involved in the fraudulent withdrawal of over 37 million cédis from the Bank of Ghana. Their case was handled by a Public Tribunal in Accra. [ British Broadcasting Corporation, "Three more Ghanains executed for economic crimes," BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, 1 June 1985.]

3) The IRBDC does not have at its disposal at this time, published and publicly available information on The Police Gazette.