The Legal Resources centre, a human right non-governmental organization has organized a two-day co-creation workshop for Civil Society Organisations in Ho, Volta Region, working in the justice space to draft a justice commitment for Ghana.
The justice commitments will be drafted based on two proposed areas; The passage into law of Ghana’s Community Service Bill and the Operationalisation of paralegals in Ghana.
When approved, the justice commitments would be incorporated into Ghana’s 5th Open Government Partnership (OGP) National Action Plan (NAP) through an amendment.
Open government partnership is an international initiative which seeks to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, enhance citizens participation and promote accountability and adopt new technologies to enhance good governance.
Ghana has signed and been a member of the Open Government Partnership since 2011 as the principles and values are enshrined in the constitution.
Since 2011, Ghana has successfully developed and implemented four National
Action Plans which sought to create continuous collaboration of creating open and honest governance systems in the country.
The 5th National Action Plan which was submitted in December 2023 commits to a nationally agreed set of priority areas and actions, that are designed to achieve an integrated mental health system and that will be used to build a stronger, more transparent, accountable, efficient and effective mental health system.
Enock Jengre, Programme Officer at the Legal Resources Centre stressed that since Ghana signed unto the Open Government Partnership in 2011, the government has submitted five different National Action Plans with different commitments. However, none of the commitments has been in the area of justice. Hence, and as justice needs are core to Ghana’s development and its democratic consolidation, Civil Society Organisations working in the justice space through the Legal Resources Centre had a make a case with the Open Government Partnership Steering Committee to draft a justice commitment for incorporation into Ghana’s 5th National Action Plans through an amendment.
He asserted that once the justice commitments are drafted in an Open Government Partnership language, the draft will undergo various consultative meetings with both the state and non-state actors working in the justice delivery space including the Ministry of the Interior and the Legal Aid Commission for review and make input before adoption.
Mrs. Thelma Ohene-Asiamah, the National Open Government Partnership Coordinator and a member of Steering Committee took participants through Ghana’s journey towards the development of five successful National Action Plans and how implementation of the various commitments are done and monitored.
Mr. Sylvester Appiah-Honny, the Grassroot Justice Network Officer for Ghana encouraged the participating Civil Society Organisations to value their contribution towards the development of the justice commitment as an important milestone in their individual organisations. According to him, history will remember them as having contributed towards Ghana’s first justice commitment on the Open Government Partnership.
Open Government partnership is to expand responsiveness, accountability and inclusion into all systems of justice.
The workshop also provided a platform for an in -depth discussions on the co -implementation of Ghana’s Justice commitment and to strengthen the Grassroots Justice Network through networking opportunities and collaborative sessions.
(C)Orlando Daniel
