EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Background to the Project

Institutions within the legal and justice sector are reportedly faced with weakened functionality as well as structural and institutional capacity challenges. These appear to have caused inefficiencies and led to low  public  confidence,  limited  accessibility,  reduced  quality  of  services,  and  delayed  dispensation  of justice especially for the vulnerable.

Integral to a democracy is respect and prevalence of the rule of law. This can be achieved by ensuring that  a  country’s  justice  sector  functions  efficiently  in  a  manner  that  is  easily accessible  to  the  public. When  the  rule  of  law  prevails,  a  country  is  more  likely  to  be  stable,  just,  and  peaceful.  The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, specifically Chapter Five, establishes the significance of the rule of law and the right to justice for Ghanaian citizens. In order to achieve this mandate, the justice sector has made several reforms. However, even with such reforms, results from the 2012 Baseline Survey of the Justice Sector of Ghana illustrates that more changes need to be made.

In order to further Ghana’s development, it is necessary that the institutions under the justice and legal system function effectively, meaning that the staff at the various institutions need to be highly skilled and knowledgeable about the processes of their respective institutions.  Thus, the development of

Standard Operating Procedures would make certain that each staff member is on the same page about the required standards of operations of their respective institutions and is equipped to bring them into fruition.

In light of these concerns, the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General’s Department has partnered the UNDP  to  commission  this  project  to  coordinate  and  develop  standard  operating  procedures  for the Ministry  of  Justice  and  Attorney  General’s  Department  and  its  Agencies,  namely:  Legal  Service Civil Division, Legal Service Legislative Drafting Division, the Law Reform Commission and the Council for Law Reporting.