CONSOLIDATING TRANSPARENCY AND
ACCOUNTABILITY IN GHANA /
UNDP Strategic Plan Outcome 2:Citizens expectations for voice, development, the rule for law and accountability are met by strong systems of democratic governance
UNDP Strategic Plan Output 2.3:Capacities for human rights institutions strengthened
UNDAF Outcome 10:Key national institutions of democracy are effective, accountable, gender responsive and promote peace inclusive governance, human security with focus on vulnerable groups, by 2016
UNDAF Output(s) 10.3/10.2:Planned justice sector reforms completed and key institutions functional and responsive; mechanisms in place for participation of women and vulnerable groups in decision making processes
Implementing Partner:Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ)
Responsible Parties: UNDP, CHRAJ, Ghana Antio-Corruption Coalition, (GACC), Ministry of Justiceand Attorney General’s Department (MoJAGD), Legal Aid Scheme, Customs Division of the GhanaRevenue Authority (Customs), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).
NarrativeThe 2013/2014 WP for Transparency and Accountability is in full alignment with the UNDAF 2012-2016 and the Ghana Shared Growth Development Agenda II (GSGDA II). Conscious of the need to scale up efforts to improve service delivery in the public sector, access to justice and the anti-corruption agenda in Ghana, planned activities build on lessons from the 2014 United Nations Anti-Corruption Convention (UNCAC) review of Ghana report, and new perspectives such as the newly adopted Ghana Anti-Corruption Action Plan. In addition, methods and tools to ensure a more holistic approach will be adopted, to strengthen service delivery through the development of client charters, monitoring compliance and the administration of justice as well as the capacity of citizens to access the legal system. During the two-year WP period, capacities of state and civic institutions will be enhanced in order to combat corruption and strengthen reform of the public sector and the justice delivery system. Partnerships will be a vital plank in the strategy underpinning UNDP’s anti-corruption and justice sector reform efforts. This WP will also emphasise the need for access to legal assistance by the poor and the vulnerable by strengthening Ghana’s Legal Aid Scheme and seeing to the sustained increase of Ghanaians, particularly women, who benefit from the Scheme.
I: SITUATION ANALYSIS
Ghana is a peaceful and stable democracy with a population of about 25.8 million. Over the last decade, Ghana has enjoyed increasingly stable and deepening democratic governance anchored on six successful elections in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. The smooth organization of the 2012 general elections, as well as the successful adjudication of the landmark election petition by the Supreme Court, has further enhanced Ghana’s democratic credentials contributing to the peace and respect for human rights, the rule of law and other important democratic principles. Notwithstanding the notable progress which has been made, a number of development challenges remain[1].These challenges, as identified by theGhana Shared Growth and Development Agenda IIinclude: power imbalance among the arms of Government; insufficient public ownership of, and participation in governance process; limited awareness, advocacy and enforcement of rights and responsibilities; and perception of corruption in the public sector.[2]
In addition, it has to be noted that certain legitimacy problems exist, especially in regard to the poor and non-delivery of certain public goods such as poverty reduction strategies or job creation initiatives by the system.Furthermore, politicization and polarization along party lines pose challenges manifested in the areas of political party functioning, political competition, policy making and power centralization. Shortcomings in the administration are mostly of structural origin – corruption, education and underfunding and are less connected with undue political interference (BTI 2014).
However, Afrobarometer surveys conducted in the country since the 1990s have shown a strong and increasing commitment toward democratic values. Popular consent to the basicpillars and norms of a democratic institutional set-up appears high at all levels. For example, two turnovers of power at the ballot box, still an exception in Africa, demonstrates a high commitment to democratic institutions by the political elites.The high degree of participation in the most recent elections (slightly above 80%, some ten percentage points higher than in 2008) shows that the enthusiasm of voters is still considerable. In addition,the successful outcome of a petition against the elections results by the major opposition party is evidence of the public’s faith in democratic values (BTI 2014)[3].
The challenges to democratic governance come to a head and are manifest in the thematic areas of Transparency and Accountability, Service Deliveryand Access to Justice, with Gender Equality and Youth Empowerment asimportant cross cutting themes.
Transparency and Accountability
Corruption and limited administrative capacity continue to pose the biggest challenges, exemplified in unduly long legal procedures (BTI 2014).
The National Anti-Corruption Action Plan Report (NACAP) defines corruption as “the misuse of entrusted power for private gain”. So corruption as defined, includes bribery, embezzlement, misappropriation, trading in influence, abuse of office, abuse of power, illicit enrichment, laundering of proceeds of crime, concealment, obstruction of justice, patronage, nepotism, and conflict of interest (NACAP Report, 2011).
Corruption has negatively impacted Ghana’s socio-economic and political development since Ghana’s independence in 1957; it undermines good governance and the rule of law,erodes public confidence in the merits and rewards system and inefficient service delivery.Though Ghana improved marginally on the 2014Global Corruption Perceptions Index scoring 48 points compared to 45 in 2013 to place 61 out of 175 countries; corruption is still perceived by Ghanaians as a challenge.The Afrobarometer Survey 2014 mirrors public opinion with regard to corruption with 75% of citizens saying that corruption has increased over the past year.The survey results showed that more than half of citizens perceive corruption among “some,”“most,” or “all”of the officials at the presidency (83%), Members of Parliament (85%) and government officials (86%), Judges and Magistrates (85%), Tax officials of the Ghana Revenue Authority (85%), Local government Representatives (83%), and Traditional Leaders (78%)[4].
The Public Procurement Act of 2003 is one of the instruments developed to promote transparency and accountability in Ghana. However, the transparency of the public procurement system is as questionable as the monitoring of codes of conduct and similar provisions. With the influx of oil revenue, the Public Procurement Act of 2003 has become more important, as it is still one of the most comprehensive legal regulations in Africa in regard to the administration of public tenders, although it is not always implemented to the letter resulting in consequences such as payments of numerous judgement debts which are draining the public purse. Corruption in Ghana, still pervades all levels of state administration, and will continue to do so as long as administration remains weak and the government continues to be the major investor and contractor in the economy[5].
According to the NACAP Report, factors causing corruption in Ghana include a lack of effective corruption reporting system, absence of good record keeping, poor management practices in public institutions and low levels of integrity.Corruption facilitates generalised disrespect for the law and disregard for the rule of law, placing a heavy toll on Ghana’s economy, society and politics, retarding national development. As a result of a growing public concern about the scale of corruption and its impact on societyand equally growing recognition that corruption can and must be effectively tackled in a comprehensive manner, the Parliament of Ghana in July 2014 adopted the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) to serve as one of the major tools in addressing corruption in Ghana. The NACAP, together with the recommendations of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) 2013 review of Ghana, when effectively implemented, could assist significantly in addressing corruption in Ghana. Action against corruption has intensified over the last decade with the development of several anti-corruption initiatives, including institutional reform programmes and harmonised efforts with emerging international initiatives including the world community’s adoption of the UNCAC in 2003. The African Union (AU) Convention Against Corruption 2005 and the ECOWAS Protocol on the Fight Against Corruption (ECOWAS Protocol) were adopted at the regional and sub-regional levels respectively. Ghana ratified both the UNCAC and the AU Convention in 2005, and the ECOWAS Protocol in 2003.
Over the years, UNDP has identified the need to review constitutional provisions to ensure clarity of roles and responsibilities of governance institutions and arms of Government with the aim of building the capacities of governance institutions and Parliament to draft laws and perform oversight responsibilities.As Ghana’s economy develops, challenges associated with managing increased oil and public sector revenues, natural resources, internal security and policy making will increase. The State has established laudable mechanisms for addressing challenges relating to transparency and accountability, including the institutionalising of CHRAJ, The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and the adoption by parliament of the NACAP for example, but these mechanisms must be strengthened to achieve the needed aim. There is also the need for constructive and steady partnerships across stakeholders, including civil society; however challenges still remain- particularly at the local levels.Perhaps most significantly, more effective partnerships between rights holders including women and duty bearers can catalyse and lead to measureable improvements in transparency and accountability through greater involvement by citizens in the business of governance.
Women are said to be less corrupt than men according to research that has been done. Some scholars have suggested that women and men relate to corruption differently due to differences in risk-taking behaviour. It is hypothesised that women’s particular role in society, which entrusts them with the care of children and elders in the family, makes them more averse to risk. In addition, women, according to a 2008 report by UNIFEM, are more vulnerable to the impact of corruption than men; as corruption disproportionately affects the poor and women form a larger proportion of the poor and take primary responsibility for the care of the family, corruption impacts negatively on women’s access to basic public services. Thus efforts will be made to involve women and women’s organizations in developing and implementing strategies for addressing corruption.
Human Rights & Access to justice
In the area of Human Rights, Ghana has received positive reviews from various international organizations and human rights “watch dogs”. Ghana has ratified many of the major international treaties relating to the promotion of human rights, including those of women, and the rule of law, its record had been consistently improving since 1993 after the adoption of Constitutional rule. The country has an impressive record of encouraging public education on fundamental human rights as a means to improve citizens’ access to justice, with several Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) engaged in human rights promotion to complement the education programmes conducted by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE); However, Ghana is yet to ratify two very important protocols; Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Ibid., para. 101) and the Optional Protocol and designation of a national preventive mechanism under article 17, which are urgently needed for more effective monitoring of all places of detention, particularly in the light of the critical issue of overcrowding[6].
Access to justice can be defined as access to state sponsored or state sanctioned legal services, including access to information about legal rights and responsibilities, legal advice, legal counselling, legal representation and other legal advocacy services.[7]
Even though, the right of access to justice has for a long time, and in many jurisdictions, been regarded as one of the fundamental rights a person is entitled to enjoy in a democratic society and equal access to justice under the law is a fundamental principle guaranteed under the 1992 constitution of the republic of Ghana there are a lot of challenges in Ghana that denies a great number of citizen’s, this right. Court procedures continue to be subject to long delays. Access to legal aid is inadequate and some prisoners spend years awaiting trial. In many prisons, overcrowding is severe, sanitation is inadequate and food and medical care are scarce. Some reforms have been introduced to tackle overcrowding, for example, “The Justice for All programme”, introduced in 2007 to reduce the number of prisoners awaiting trial, brings judges into prisons to conduct hearings with untried prisoners[8] who currently constitute 21.1% of the 14,728 total prisoners as at November, 2014[9]; however, the problem still persists as evident in the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in Ghana in March 2014.
In addition, access to justice is constantly hampered by a geographic imbalance in court distribution that is concentrated in areas of high economic activity instead of areas with high density of population, with the of the poor and the vulnerable like women, children, and persons with disability unable to access justice due to their poor economic situations which results in them not being able toafford to pay the cost associated with accessing justice in the country including court and lawyers’ fees.
Earlier efforts have contributed to strengthened justice delivery services that can be more readily accessed by the public, particularly the poor and vulnerable groups. UNDP’s previous programming cycle reaffirmed the Government of Ghana and UNDP'sobjectives to ensure thatjustice sectorreform takes place, includingfair and speedy resolution of disputes, protection of human rights and strengthening institutional capacities for effective and efficient justice delivery to the citizenry. The baseline report of the justice sector in Ghana produced by MoJAGD with UNDP support in 2012, indicates that 74% of Ghanaians do not report human rights violations for fear of victimization, high cost and lack of confidence in the institutions that redress human rights violation. Despite progress made to enhance the quality, timeliness and accessibility of judicial services, including the establishment of theCommunity Media Centres (CMCs) and the High-Level Dialogue (led by the MoJAGD) that enhanced intra-sector collaboration, challenges persist. Some of these challenges include poor coordination among justice delivery institutions such as the police, judicial and prison services resulting in a backlog of cases, congestion in prisons, delays in justice delivery, inadequate operational support and logistics as well as general limited public awareness and exercise of rights and responsibilities as rights-holders. It is hoped that the implementation of proposed reforms will address some of these challenges and improve access to justice for all.
Public Service Delivery
The public service is established to support the development and implementation of public policies, services and programs such as in the area of education, health, water and sanitation, power generation and distribution among others for the benefit of the citizens. However the performance of the public service in Ghana had lived much to be desired with complains and calls from the public for redress. These challenges include; delays in the delivery of services due to bureaucracy, inefficiencies or poor quality of services due to corruption, weak technical capacities and lack of a functional and monitored performance management system. Since the 1980’s, there has been several efforts to reform the public service in Ghana. The essence of these reforms was to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the civil service and to ensure its performance,capacity and sustainability over time (UNECE 2010)[10].
In spite of these reforms, the most Ghanaians are still dissatisfied with the delivery of public services such as electricity, healthcare, education, water and sanitation, and road maintenance, the Afrobarometer 2014 survey findings show the public’s negative assessments have increased significantly over time. The findings indicate that Most Ghanaians assessed government as having performed “very badly” or “fairly badly” inproviding reliable electricity (75%), maintaining roads and bridges (68%), providing water and sanitation services (66%), addressing educational needs (63%), and improving basic health services (61%) .
II: PAST COOPERATION AND LESSONS LEARNED
In order to improve the human rights situation in Ghana there is a need to strengthen the capacity of civil society to demand services as a right, while holding both central and local government accountable for delivery of services and creating the environment for broad based participation in decision-making (Ghana Country Analysis, 2010).
Over the years, realising the nature of corruption and its adverse impact on Ghanaian society, governments have undertaken national anti-corruption strategies including strengthening the nation’s anti-corruption legislative framework and national anti-corruption institutions such as the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Audit Service, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the erstwhile Serious Fraud Office (SFO), now the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO). Other measures taken in the past include public execution of persons for corruption; confiscation of properties found or believed to have been corruptly acquired by public office holders.
The UNDP Ghana Governance Programme has in the past,strengthened the capacities of key national governance institutions,enhanced the country's governance process and engaged citizens in democratic processes, ensuring access to justice and human rights and nurturingconflict prevention mechanisms.UNDP’s2011 Assessment of Development Results (ADR) report recognized UNDP`s earlier contributions in strengthening national governance institutions (Parliament, the Judiciary, Justice System and the Electoral Commission) and establishing new frameworks for the consolidation of peace, including the National Peace Council and Ghana National Commission on Small Arms. The ADR also noted UNDP’s support to election-related activities by facilitating preventive advocacy and mediation through the National Peace Council, establishment of fast track courts to resolve election disputes and technical support to Electoral Commission for electronic capturing of results. The Government’s trust and confidence in UNDP was also evident in the request to coordinate donor assistance to the Constitutional Review Process.