Safo is afraid that the administration of the ICC may affray with the ascendancy of Ghana, advancement the Ghanaian authorities to exercise attention with its accomplishing affairs apropos the Rome Statute of the ICC.
For instance, she explained that Article 1(2) of the Constitution of Ghana makes the law of the acreage supreme, and any added law begin to be inconsistent with any accouterment of it shall be absent and void.
However, the proposed ICC Bill currently afore the Parliament of Ghana has some accoutrement that accompaniment that back it conflicts with the laws of Ghana, it shall abound over that of the above British antecedents back anesthetized into an Act.
Following the estimation of Article 1(2) of the 1992 Constitution, no Act of Parliament shall be above to the axiological law of the land, the 1992 Constitution.
Furthermore, Article 11(1) of the 1992 Constitution outlines the laws of Ghana in hierarchical order. At the acme is the 1992 Constitution, followed by an Act of Parliament.
Article 11(1) of the 1992 Constitution states that "The laws of Ghana shall comprise - (a) this Constitution; (b) enactments fabricated by or beneath the ascendancy of the Parliament accustomed by this Constitution; (c) any Orders, Rules, and Regulations fabricated by any being or ascendancy beneath a ability conferred by this Constitution; (d) the absolute law; and (e) the accepted law."
This agency that, in all intents and purposes, the accoutrement in the ICC Bill contradicting the Constitution of Ghana shall be accounted absent and void. Safo, who is additionally the Vice-Chair of the anew constituted Select Committee on Built-in and Acknowledged Affairs of the Parliament of Ghana, fabricated this ascertainment during a contempo alive appointment to The Hague. She was allotment of the aldermanic appointment to the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands, from 22nd to 24th July 2024.
The appointment aimed to accouter and deepen the compassionate and acquaintance of parliamentarians on ensuring accountability and amends for the best austere crimes of affair to the all-embracing association while adopting synergies for added all-embracing cooperation.
It was additionally meant to facilitate chat with ICC admiral and stakeholders to accommodate absolute advice on the ICC's authorization and functioning; advance the acceptance of all amendments to the Rome Statute, including the Kampala Amendments on the abomination of aggression; and accommodate a bigger compassionate and apostle for the acceptance of the Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the ICC, as able-bodied as accept accordant cooperation agreements amid Ghana and the ICC.
Another ascertainment fabricated by Safo, who is additionally the Ranking Member of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee and Member of the Health Committee, was the aberration in the age of culpability/criminal accountability for the four crimes covered by the Rome Statute as adjoin the Bent Offenses Act of Ghana. "Under the proposed ICC Bill, bodies beneath the age of 18 years are not criminally liable.
On the added hand, beneath the bent laws and action of Ghana, a adolescent can be criminally answerable and tried, hence, the accessible acknowledged contradictions in Ghana's attack at domesticating the Rome Statute."
In Safo's view, the ICC's ascendancy may abandon Ghana's civic laws, potentially arch to a built-in crisis.
Worried about the phenomenon, she advocated for bright guidelines on how to cross abeyant conflicts amid the Rome Statute and Ghana's Constitution.
"We cannot accommodation our civic sovereignty," she emphasized. "We charge to ensure that our laws adjust with all-embracing standards while advancement our independence."
The ICC officials, accepting listened to Safo, allayed her fears and assured her that the Rome Statute was advised to accompaniment civic laws, not alter them.
However, the Dome-Kwabenya administrator remained cautious, advancement her colleagues to anxiously accede the abeyant risks and after-effects of implementing the Rome Statute.