Project Period: 2019 to 2022
Grant Partner: GIZ
Project Summary:
The University of Ghana School of Law (UGSOL) in partnership with GIZ launched the Democratic Vigilance Project (DVP) to monitor the government of Ghana’s policy and legislative responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project comprised six (6) initiatives and was implemented in two phases:
Phase 1
• Law in Crisis Seminar Series
The Series comprised 6 virtual seminars on various subjects of law and policy reform and 1 special seminar which brought a famous international law professor to speak to a curated audience. In relation to the 6 mainstream seminars, 6 policy briefs were published that distilled clear actionable policy recommendations that came out of the virtual seminars.
• Covid-19 Responsive Capacity Building for Civil Society Organisations
This initiative comprised the design and roll out of a certified virtual training course to beef up civil society resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic and to adapt civic performance to the pandemic.
• Democratic Decision-making Process during Pandemics
Under this initiative, a research team was constituted to develop 5 distinct policy papers exploring how to make democratic decision-making processes [including electoral reforms, parliamentary deliberations; and the framework for government transitions] in Ghana, pandemic-sensitive. The policy papers also considered mechanisms for ensuring that representation and participation in democratic decision-making processes and fora are not lost or do not retrogress as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Phase 2
• Legislative and Policy Brief.
This project component entailed the compilation of a comprehensive technical report intended to form the basis of policy advocacy and relevant capacity building activities, as well as the setup of an online platform to track the range of legislative measures and executive orders adopted during the pandemic. In response to such measures, the Consultant catalogued deviations from the Constitutional Bill of rights; and identified various rights-extending legislations which due to the focus on COVID-19, had seen their implementation stalled, including for instance the right to information Act.
• Judicial Response Analysis, Baseline Study and Impact Assessment
This initiative catalogued and examined the short, medium and long-term judicial decisions that entrenched the new COVID-19 measures in Ghana between January 2020 and December 2021. It further sought to review all aspects of the judicial value chain in order to identify structural challenges that have been made pressing by the pandemic.
• Proactive Legislative Reform Action
Under this initiative the engaged Consultant reviewed and proposed amendments to the Public Order Act, 1994 (Act 491) and submitted a Draft Bill with explanatory Memorandum (Public Order (Amendment) Bill, 2022) to be laid before Parliament. An agreement was also reached with a member of Parliament to sponsor the Bill as a Private Member’s Bill
• Strategic Litigation Action
The initiative spearheaded the legal challenge of legislation and/or executive actions that curtailed or contravened Constitutional provisions and entrenched the extraordinary measures imposed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The outcome was the repeal of the Imposition of Restrictions Act, 2020 (Act 1012) by the Supreme Court in the case of Professor Appiagyei-Atua & 7 Others vs. the Attorney General with Suit No. J1/14/2022 (unreported) dated 31st May 2023. Copy of the Supreme Court ruling is available on https://www.dennislawgh.com
