Parliamentary Advocacy

Activities
Objectives
Bills/Regulations
Other activities(expanded)
Future of programme

ACTIVITIES

Under the parliamentary advocacy project, the LRC engages in the following activities:

1. Accessing proposed bills/regulations from Parliament;

2. Determining interest groups likely to be affected by the bills/regulations;

3. Publicising these bills/regulations and bring them to the knowledge of the affected groups;

4. Sensitising the general public on proposed bills/regulations with general application after analysis of the bill/regulations;

5. Analysing proposed bills;

6. Workshops for civil society organisations, pressure groups and interest groups.

7. Collecting data on public/interest group reaction to the proposed bills/regulations;

8. Presenting the data to Parliament; and

9. Holding interactive discussions with Parliament and other stakeholders on the bills/regulations;

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

The objectives of the project include the following:

1. Create general awareness of bills laid before Parliament;

2. Encourage and facilitate public input into the legislative process;

3. Increase Parliament's own information base for the purpose of making good laws; and

4. Orient the citizenry, especially various interest groups and civil society towards their role in the new parliamentary set-up.

BILLS/REGULATIONS CONSIDERED UNDER THE PROJECT

The following bills/regulations have been considered under the project:

Fire Precaution Regulations, 2001 (L.I. 1674);
Immigration Regulations, 2001 (L.I. 1691);
Citizenship Regulations, 2001 (L.I. 1690);
Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Bill;
The National Reconciliation Commission Bill;
Courts (Amendment) Bill;
The Appropriations Bill 2002;
Investment Fund Bill;
Juvenile Justice Bill;
Draft National Health Insurance Bill;
Ghana Shipping Bill;
The Customs, Excise and Preventive Services (Management) (Amendment) Bill;
Tertiary Institutions (Establishment and Accreditation) Regulations;
The Labour Bill
Civil Proceedings Bill - (Report / Memo)
Domestic Violence Bill - (Report / Memo)
Local Government Bill - (Report / Memo)
National Health Insurance Bill - (Report / Memo)
Finance Administration Bill - (Report / Memo)
Postal Service Bill - (Report / Memo)

A. The Fire Precaution Regulation, 2001 (LI. 1679)

In July 2001, and following discussions with the leadership of the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation, it was agreed that the sitting of the Committee be officially moved to the Hotel Wangara, Labone, Accra, for the purpose of considering the above regulations. This was captured in the Order Paper of Parliament for that day. This meant that the Committee was in total charge of proceedings at the sitting at Hotel Wangara. All the members of the Committee were in attendance.

The Legal Resources Centre invited several interest groups to the committee meeting. These included personnel of the Fire Service who were very interested in the passage of the Regulations. Following deliberations on the Proposed Regulations the Committee was of the view that the interests of several groups had not been taken into consideration or that several provisions worked adversely to the interests of several groups who had made representations at the sitting. It was therefore agreed by the Committee that in view of the lapses in the Regulations, they should either be withdrawn by the Minister of Interior for amendment or be rejected by the Committee. Under the Constitution of Ghana, Regulations automatically become law if they are laid in Parliament for 21 sitting days unless Parliament rejects them.

Subsequently the Regulations were withdrawn by the Minister for Interior. New ones were drafted taking into consideration all the views expressed at the Committee meeting at Hotel Wangara. A copy was presented to the LRC with a request that we organise a workshop for interest groups to reconsider the new proposals. We declined the invitation on the grounds that our mandate under the project agreement with USAID does not permit us to consider a draft regulation which has not yet been laid before Parliament. The revised version of the Fire Precaution Regulations has not yet been laid before Parliament.

B. The Citizenship Regulations, 2001 (L.I. 1690)

AND The Immigration Regulations, 2001 (L.I. 1691)

These two Regulations are very related so they were consider together. The approach for the consideration of these regulations was different for that used in the case of the Fire Precaution Regulations. We did not involve the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation at the early stages of our consideration of the regulations. We first worked with interest groups, received, refined, and collated their views on the regulations before meeting with the Parliamentary Committee. A round table discussion of the Regulations was organised for interest groups at the Hotel Wangara on Thursday 6th September 2001.

At the Wangara Roundtable Discussion divergent positions were expressed by the interest groups attending. Whilst the Internal Spouses Association (ISAG) and the African American Association of Ghana were not completely satisfied with the proposals contained in the Regulations, they nevertheless thought that the Regulations should be allowed to come into force. They could then lobby for further regulations to take care of the unsatisfactory areas. Other interest groups present, however, wanted the regulations rejected. It was finally agreed that the Regulations were to be allowed to come into force without any strong opposition. Consequently the LRC declined to organise interest group representations to the Committee. The Regulations automatically came into force after the expiry of 21 sitting days from the day they were first laid before Parliament.

C. The National Reconciliation Commission Bill

The National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) is arguably the bill that excited the most public interest. We therefore decided to promote a nation-wide debate by organising public fora in the various regions of Ghana. Consequently we divided the country into four zones and chose a region in each of the zones as the venue for the fora.

In choosing the regions we had regard to the activities of other civil society organisations like the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), which had organised an international conference in the Greater Accra Region. Greater Accra was therefore left out of our programme. We targeted regions that had not had the opportunity to discuss the proposals contained in the bill at an organised public forum. Four Regional Fora were held through out the country. These were in:

1. Tamale, in the Northern Region, held on the 11^th of July 2001 at the Teachers' Hall;

2. Bolgatanga, in the Upper East Region, held on the 10 July 2001, at the Sacred Heart Social Centre;

3. Takoradi, in the Western Region on 20th September 2001; and

4. Suyani in the Brong Ahafo Region, held on the 11^th of October at the Christ the King Hall.

The LRC also collaborated with the Constitutional Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee. The Committee, with funding from the CDD-Ghana, conducted some Regional Hearings on the NRC Bill. They went to Bolgatanga, Kumasi and Ho and then held their last hearing in Accra.

The LRC widely publicised the issue involved in the NRC programme and was effective in enabling people access the Bill. In each Region we organised a series of radio discussions to explain the contents of the bill and allowed phone-ins to enable people ask questions and make contributions. This engaged the citizenry in a lively debate over such an important national issue.

Following the Regional Fora, the LRC wrote a memorandum to the Committee outlining the main views expressed on the issues in the Bill. In addition some of the participants at the regional fora wrote memoranda to the Committee. These included Mr. Donald Adabre, former Minister of State, (Upper East Region), Mr Bobtoya E. Aguri, Upper East Region, and Mr Robert Atuguba, Upper East Region. The report of the Committee to Parliament acknowledged the receipt of memoranda from these participants.

The Memorandum also included the results of various opinion polls and surveys conducted in the regions on the issues raised in the bill.

D. Courts (Amendment) Bill

The Courts (Amendment) Bill was a short piece of legislation. It proposed to abolish certain lower tribunals and replace them with courts very similar to those that existed under the immediately preceding Courts Act. It also abolished the panel system of those tribunals. Considering that it was a technical legal issue dealing with the administration of justice, the LRC wrote a memorandum to the Constitutional Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee setting out its views on the proposed amendment for consideration.
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E. The Appropriations Bill 2002

The reason for considering this bill was to attempt at influencing budgetary allocations by Parliament. Given that Appropriations Bills often run into many many pages, and cover virtually every sector, it was decided that we one sector and attempt to influence the budgetary allocation in respect of it.

The legal sector was chosen. A seminar for stakeholders was organised to map out a strategy for the lobbying exercise. At the seminar it became clear that any attempt to influence budgetary allocations had to start well before the Appropriations Bill is laid before Parliament. This is because the budgeting process is a long one that involves a series of negotiations between the Ministry of Finance and the various ministries and departments. It is at this time that lobbying for increased budgetary allocations is effective.

It was therefore decided that the coalition of interest groups interested in increased budgetary allocations to legal sector institutions be temporarily dissolved, with an understanding that the group would be reconstituted early enough to begin working for increased budgetary allocations to legal sector institutions for the year 2003.

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F. Ghana Investment Fund Bill

The Ghana Investment Fund Bill has the objective of setting up a fund from which Ghanaian businesses in certain specific areas of endeavour can draw for the purposes of boosting their capital.

The LRC prepared interest groups from local communities in Accra with support from lecturers and students in Investment Law from the University of Ghana, to present memoranda to the Finance Committee on innovative ways of managing this fund.

Following discussions with the Clerk of the Committee, the interest groups were invited to the Committee's sitting in the Speaker's Conference Room on Friday 1^st of March 2002. The Minister of Trade and his two Deputies were in attendance. The community leaders, comprising mainly of Chiefs, who thought that the Bill did not adequately address the needs of northern business groups, had the opportunity to engage in a very intense debate with the Minister over the adequacy of the Bill. This debate was further enhanced by the presentations of the staff and students from the Faculty of Law. At the end of the sitting the Committee was very appreciative of the presentations and received the memoranda of the two groups.

G. Juvenile Justice Bill

The juvenile Justice Bill is a comprehensive Bill that seeks to restructure Ghana's juvenile justice system. We prepared several interest groups to deal with the bill. These include the NGO Coalition on the Rights of the Child, a number of parents and youth groups living in slum communities in Accra, with high juvenile delinquency rates. So far the NGO Coalition has held a roundtable discussion and written a memorandum to be presented to Parliament. They are also ready to appear before the Constitutional Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee when they begin sitting to consider the bill. The parents and youth groups have also prepared a memorandum for the Committee on a number of issues in the bill.

Once the Committee sets out its time table for the consideration of the bill, the LRC will proceed to arrange for the various interest groups to participate at the sittings and present memoranda. The Committee has expressed its readiness to give us and the various interest groups a hearing.

H. Draft National Health Insurance Bill

The Public Health Reform Plus (PHR Plus) sought funding from the USAID to carry out parliamentary lobbying on behalf of Mutual Health Organisations (MHOs) on issues relating to the draft bill. USAID directed that LRC should act as the official lobbyist for the MHOs. Pursuant to this the Project Coordinator attended a two-day MHO's workshop organised by PHR plus in Kumasi. At the Kumasi workshop MHOs agreed that a Forum should be created to serve as the main mouthpiece of MHOs. Regional representatives were selected to the Forum.

The LRC, working with the Forum, held a meeting on Monday the 10^th of May 2002 at the Miklin Hotel, East Legon, Accra. Representatives from various Mutual Health Organisations in the regions attended. The report of this meeting and the various decisions and recommendations arrived at will be presented to Parliament when it considers the bill.

I. Ghana Shipping Bill

This bill is a very comprehensive one that seeks to deal with the entire scope of maritime commerce and all other matters related to sea transport. The LRC first convened a meeting of consultants to discuss and understand the bill. We then convened a meeting of many seamen with the assistance of the Ghana Shippers Council. At this meeting the consultants discussed the bill with them and then collated their views on various aspects of the bill. These were presented to the Roads and Transport Committee.

J. Customs Excise and Preventive Service (Amendment) Bill

This bill sought to address a very thorny issue, the importation of "over-aged" vehicles. There is a fierce controversy over what should be done with "over-aged" vehicles, which are imported into the country. In the past these were smelted, but the cost of smelting was borne by Government. This bill sought to discourage their importation by imposing some tax penalties.

Big automobile companies importing new cars in coalition with the Energy Foundation and Green Earth initiated a lobby to ensure the regulation of the importation of second-hand vehicles. They presented memoranda to that effect to the Finance Committee, which considered the bill.

The LRC contacted several importers of used vehicles and arranged several informative and strategy meetings with them to plan their presentation to the Finance Committee arguing for a rolling-back of the age at which imported vehicles will attract severe tax penalties.

The representatives of the various second-hand dealers associations and LRC staff both presented a detailed memorandum to Parliament, contesting the arguments of the big automobile companies, and appeared before the committee on two separate sessions to present the case for the second-hand car dealers.

Tertiary Institutions (Establishment and Accreditation) Regulations

These Regulations were made pursuant to the provisions of section 16 of the National Accreditation Board Law, 1993 (PNDCL 317), to regulate the establishments and accreditation of tertiary institutions in the country.

The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) in collaboration with the Parliamentary Select Committee on Subsidiary Legislations organised a one day parliamentary advocacy workshop at the Wangara Hotel on 8h June 2002, to look at the provisions of the draft legislation and also to promote the participation of civil society in the work of parliament.

In attendance were members of the Select Committee and representatives from the National Accreditation Board (NAB), 3 national universities, religious universities, 2 polytechnics, student unions and business institutions as well as the media.

After the Chairman of the Select Committee had underscored the need to keep Acts of Parliament operational by the adoption and enactment of subsidiary legislation, speaker after speaker emphasized the importance of this exercise in the process of participatory democracy.

Participants generally described the Regulations as reasonable although clarifications were sought on a number of provisions. The Regulations entered into force on 25^th June 2002. A close inspection of L.I 1700 reflects little or no modifications.

The Labour Bill

The LRC organized a roundtable discussion on this bill at the Miklin Hotel on September 2^nd 2002. The roundtable discussion was attended by 45 persons, representing 32 organisations, agencies and groupings. Attached is a listed of participant. The resource persons for the discussion were:

Prof. E.K.Quarshigah , Professor of Law and Coordinator of the Human Rights Study Centre of the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana.

Mr. Joseph Aryittey, Lecturer in Industrial Law at the

Ghana School of Law.

A memorandum was presented to the Manpower Development and Employment Committee conveying the following key concerns of participants about the bill:

1. Participants observed that specific concerns of the informal sector are not addressed in the Bill. Consequently, a separate legislation may be needed to address same.

The pluralism of labour unions as sanctioned by the Bill might pose problems for the labour market.

The establishment of Fee-Charging Employment Agencies (FCEAs) might exacerbate the problem of the brain drain.

Finally, the employer-employee relationship works injustice against the employee where the employer is permitted under the Bill to terminate the employment of the employee without assigning reasons.
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OTHER ACTIVITIES UNDER PARLIAMENTARY ADVOCACY

The LRC has developed links with the Boston University Program on Legislative Drafting for Democratic Social Change. This was for the purpose of improving the skills of LRC staff in legislative theory, methodology and technique. LRC staff are just completing a distance course on legislative drafting organised by the Boston Program.

The LRC has also drafted a detailed memorandum (research report) and a bill on the Registration of Moslem marriages under charter by the Attorney-General019s office for consideration by parliament.

THE FUTURE OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ADVOCACY PROJECT

The LRC is preparing a strategic plan for the next 5-10 years. After operating mostly at the micro-level and on community issues, the LRC has realised that a good deal of the problems we struggle with at the grassroots are systemic and can only be dealt with through macro-analysis and macro-level interventions.

In the past one and a half years we have been engaged in parliamentary advocacy on several issues. The key aim has been to assist in building a parliamentary system that is quite independent of the executive and which has serious regard for the views of interest groups and individuals.

The LRC has began the following programs:

A program of gaining accreditation from Parliament for the LRC as a lobby group by itself and as a group that facilitates the activities of lobbyists and other interest groups;
Flowing from the above, a program to compile a comprehensive database of key interest groups in all aspects of national life which can be contacted, encouraged, organised, and assisted to make input to the legislative process with the assistance of experts working within or hired by the LRC;
A program of activities to improve public engagement with Parliament;
A program for facilitating training (in-country human resource development) for institutions such as Parliament, the Law Reform Commission, the Drafting Section of the Attorney-General019s Department, Parliamentary Clerks etc;
A program for improving the capacity of the LRC to;

(i)provide technical and logistical assistance to Parliamentarians who wish to introduce private members bills; and

(ii) work with private members to introduce bills that are in the national interest but which may not ordinarily be introduced by the executive.

A program for researching into and proposing legislative reforms in certain sectors of national life.<> <><><>< font>

The Legal Resources Centre(LRC) runs various programmes to enhanse the rights of the Ghanaian citizenery.

Programmes currently run are

Parliamentary advocay(funded by USAID)
Human Rights Cities Project
Prisoners Rights Defense( funded by OSIWA)
Right to Development( health)(funded by FXB-School of Public Health, Havard)
The Right to Economic Social and Cultural Rights Nima project (funded by DEON foundation)
Democracy and Good Governance project-Bonga and Walewae(funded by National Good Governance Secretariate)
Leg al Aid/ADR ( funded by Democracy and Human Rights fund of the American Embassy)

Programmes on hold for lack of funding

Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre