Tamale

It may have been the end of my month with the Human Rights Advocacy Centre, but I still had two weeks left to enjoy Ghana. I decided to use that time to travel around. My first stop was city of Tamale in the north of the country. Tamale is the gateway to the north of the country. If you are heading to Mole, you will struggle to get there without at some point transiting through the city.

Tamale is an easy trip from Accra – provided  you are willing to fly. By road, the journey takes around 12-14 hours. Flights are operated by Starbow and Antrak. My one way flight cost 150 cedi (£30), booked around 2 weeks in advance. The flight takes under 1 hour, although the general sense of chaos in the domestic terminal at Accra airport can cause delays. Despite the terminal being miniscule, no one seemed to be able to tell me at which desk to check in or which gate to head to. Eventually I found my way and arrived in Tamale.

Tamale has a very different feeling to Accra, although terrible traffic is something both cities have in common. Despite the bustle and noise, Tamale gives a sense of being a bit more laid back than the capital and people are incredibly friendly. It’s also predominantly Muslim, which also gives the city a different vibe. Mosques are dotted on every corner. Men wearing long, white galibeyas (full sleeved shirts that go all the way to the ground) are the norm and women tend to be much more conservatively dressed than in the capital (bear this in mind when packing).

Unlike Accra, Tamale has very little in the way of sights and nightlife: better just to amble aimlessly around and soak up the atmosphere. The streets arranged in grid-system between the STC bus station and the Vodafone tower is a particularly nice place to stroll. People here are very welcoming, and you’ll likely stumble upon women out in the street pounding fufu. Just be careful of the many, many, goats – I found myself caught up in something of a stampede!

Both the central market and the Cultural Centre are worthwhile visits. The central market straddles the main tro-tro and taxi station. It’s a mishmash of stalls selling just about everything: from household goods, to clothes, to fabrics, to food (you may want to breathe through your mouth when walking through the meat section). There is also an interesting section selling materials for traditiona medicine, including various crushed up bones, leopard skin, and horse tails.

The market seems to be a particularly good place to buy fabrics, particularly batik, as well as men’s smocks. These items, which men all over the country wear are baggy sleeveless shirts, with a v-neck, and flared into a triangle shape at the chest. Most have vertically striped patterns. There are rows upon rows of stalls where you can see men weaving these smocks by both hand and by machine. Expect to pay around 50 cedi (£10) for a machine woven smock and around 80 cedi (£16) if it’s hand woven. Everyone in the market is very friendly. The weavers will happily talk you through the production of smocks and allow you to take pictures, even if you tell them you’re not buying. I also had a very amusing exchange with a woman selling rice after I asked to take a photograph of her enormous bowls of rice, stacked up in high heaps. She shrugged and called me a “funny, strange, obruni*”, evidently not understanding why I would want to photograph rice. I explained that in my country we don’t sell rice like this – it comes in small bags. This was apparently hysterical.

The Cultural Centre, about a 10 minute walk from the central market is not a “cultural centre” as we might use the term. Like the Cultural Centre in Accra, it is simply a tourist-oriented market selling such things as beads, bags, African masks, carvings, drums, painting and ready made batik clothing. Unlike the Cultural Centre in Accra it is a hassle-free zone, with friendly vendors who will happily chat away and allow you to browse without going in for a hard sell. Prices also seem to be better than in Accra (though many are fixed price, which can be a mixed blessing).

I’m afraid, however, that I have no good recommendations for places to eat in Tamale. I ate at a few places recommended by the Bradt Guide but find myself disagreeing with its conclusions. Sparkles Restaurant, located in the Cultural Centre, was very disappointing. The menu is varied and includes both Ghanaian and Chinese dishes for around 15-20 cedi (£3-4). Unfortunately the food took a long time to arrive and when it did none of us actually received what we had ordered. We accepted anyway, but most of what we had was very bland indeed. The jolof rice in particular was a let down, tasting more like fried rice and really lacking in any flavour.

The food at the Catholic Guest House, though prompt and extremely generous in its portions, was all so salty it tasted like the ocean. Unfortunately guinea fowl, a speciality in Tamale, was off the menu owing to the current ebola outbreak in neighbouring countries and WHO advice to avoid bush meat.

Suad Fast Food, just down the road from the Catholic Guest House, however, was pretty good – though the Indian dishes were notably better than other items on the menu. Curries are good value at around 20 cedis (£4), including rice or naan. Better value still are some of the street vendors just outside which sell mouthwatering kebabs for around 2 cedi (40p).

The Catholic Guest House, salty food aside, is recommended for budget travellers. It is 1.5km out of the city centre, but very close to a rank for shared taxis, which will take you into the centre of town for 1 cedi (20p). The staff are extremely friendly and the rooms, though simple, are clean and come with their own en suite bathrooms (cold showers only). The green grounds are a pleasant place to relax in with a drink. Staff will store your baggage free of charge if you are heading to Mole and coming back in a few days. A “single” room with fan costs 35 cedi (£7), though this is actually a room with a double bed. A twin room with fan costs 42 cedi. Expect to pay around 10 cedi more per room for AC.

*white person

Best of Accra

I have to admit that, on first arriving in Accra, I wasn’t all that impressed. It just seemed, to me, to be just another charmless and chaotic African metropolis. However, in the weeks I’ve been here Accra has really grown on me and I am now sad to leave. Of all the cities I’ve been to in sub-Saharan Africa, which include Khartoum, Addis Ababa, Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, if I were to be based long-term in any of these cities, Accra would certainly be my top choice. It may not be the most beautiful city in the world, and the appalling traffic - which can make the shortest of journeys a real ordeal  - is a real downside, but Accra is a whole lot of fun. Here is a rundown of what, in my opinion, are Accra’s best bits.

By Day…

I have to be straight with you, I’m afraid that I didn’t bother making a trip to the National Museum after hearing from friends that it probably wasn’t worth the trip. Guide books will tell you to take a trip up to the University of Ghana in East Legon, or a trip around Black Star Square or the Kwame Nkrumah memorial. I’m not sure about any of this advice. The University is in nice leafy grounds, but is probably not worth the long tro-tro journey through Accra’s traffic, unless of course you are heading over to visit friends, need to use the library, or are heading out to enjoy Legon’s nightlife.  Black Star Square, to me, was a brief photo opportunity and really not the most interesting of memorials. I felt the same way about the Kwame Nkrumah memorial, though the leafy grounds do provide a nice respite from the surrounding chaos of Old Accra.

I would also avoid frequenting the Centre for National Culture – not actually a “cultural centre” as we might understand but a tourist oriented market selling tatty souvenirs, African masks, drums and beads. Unless you have your heart set on a mask or a drum (in which case it is worth a visit), the levels of hassle is not worth the effort. A casual look around will result in you feeling completely worn out.

So that’s the stuff you might want to skip. Here is the stuff I really enjoyed:

1. Makola Market. I had a huge amount of fun shopping in Makola Market, chatting with the vendors, and browsing for fabrics. I’ve dedicated a whole post to this (see my July post ‘Fabric Shopping’). You could, and indeed I did, spend hours there. Makola Market is the best place I’ve found in Ghana to buy fabrics and designing outfits and getting them made extremely cheaply is some of the best fun you can have in Ghana.

2. La Beach. OK, so you’ll get a degree of hassle from vendors, but it’s all pretty harmless and everyone is very friendly. La Beach certainly lacks the breathtaking beauty of some of Ada (see post ‘Ada Foah’) and the spots in the west of Ghana (posts on this to come), but its Accra’s most accessible beach and the blasting reggae, chilled out vibes, and tasty fish restaurants does make this an enjoyable way to spend the day. See my July post ‘La Beach'.

3. Aburi. OK, so it’s not strictly speaking in Accra, but it’s only an hour outside and the views back to Accra are spectacular. The botanical garden is a lovely escape from urbanity. See my July post ‘Aburi'.

4. Jamestown and Usshertown. The oldest neighbourhoods of Old Accra are certainly the most interesting and definitely worth a visit. The lighthouse, the focal point of the neighbourhoods isn’t much to write home about (though, given I visited with a broken ankle I didn’t climb to the top so cannot comment on the view), but the fishing village at its base makes for worthwhile exploring (see my dedicated post on Jamestown). Usshertown is home to a variety of crumbling colonial buildings, many of which are now adorned by fascinating murals.

5. Swimming. Accra is hot, sweaty, humid and crowded. Taking a dip is therefore welcome relief, but swimming at La Beach is not advised due to rip tides and strong currents. Luckily, most upmarket hotels allow day use of their pools, where you can bask in the African sunshine and get some exercise. I used the pool at the Golden Tulip and I recommend it highly. The Golden Tulip is well located near 37 tro-tro station and the pool costs 40 cedis (£6) for day use. The pool is very clean, the changing rooms are immaculate, sun loungers and towels are available, and on the Saturday I visited there were very few other patrons. There is also an extensive food and drink menu, should you get peckish.

By Night…

I have to admit that it’s really Accra by night, rather than by day, that I’m sad to be leaving. There is an enormous amount going on when the sun goes down. Here are my favourites:

1. The Alliance Française. On both occasions that I frequented the Alliance, it did not disappoint. Both experiences were very different but equally enjoyable, and I have dedicated previous posts to them. The Alliance is probably Accra’s best live music venue and its website contains listings of up and coming events. Events are carefully selected. There is also a restaurant on site. I didn’t eat there, but it all (especially the pizzas) looked pretty delicious.

2. +233 Nightclub. Like the Alliance, this is good fun. There is a passable restaurant serving pizzas, burgers, and seafood, but all the outdoor tables are arranged around a stage where live bands play. The atmosphere at +233 is great. See my dedicated post.

3. Republic Bar and Grill. Skip the food (with the notable exception of the very tasty cassava chips) but make sure you try their hibiscus infused cocktail, the Kokoroko. Happy hours are fun on Monday and Tuesday evenings (5-8pm) but it really gets going on a Friday night, when people overflow into the streets and DJs and dancing are plentiful.

4. Afrikkiko. Opposite Flagstaff House this complex has a number of outlets. Owing to my broken ankle, I never attended the Wednesday salsa nights, but I’ve heard good things. I have however enjoyed Café Dez Amis on a Friday night, which is another pretty good live music venue (though call ahead to check – some of the music can be a bit cheesy).

Hungry?

Ghana isn’t really a place you visit for the food and after a while you might get a little fed up of the local staples of fufu, banku, and kenkey, which are all pretty heavy. Luckily, there are some really great places to eat in Accra, although all are expensive by local standards (though not when you consider how much you might spend eating out in the UK).

1. Rockefella’s. This Osu eatery is the best restaurant I’ve found in Accra (see separate post for directions and more information). The menu is enormous  - normally a bad sign – but everything my friends and I tried was delicious. However, the real draw is the fantastic sushi – some of the best I’ve ever had – made fresh on site by a Japanese sushi chef. Get a group together and enjoy the Bridge Platter of tasty rolls and salmon and tuna sashimi (200 cedi/£40). The cocktails are also not bad and shisha is also available.

2. Mamma Mia. Also in Osu, Mamma Mia serves up tasty Italian style thin crust pizza for around 30-40 cedi (£6-8). The grilled seafood platter is also very good, and extremely good value, given how much you might pay for lobster at home.

3. Khana Khazana. This tiny Indian-run restaurant, located at the back of a petrol station, is far better than you might expect from its modest exterior. All the curries are great, as are the breads. Just avoid anything milk based (eg raita or lassis) – fresh milk is hard to come by in Ghana. Condensed milk is generally used instead. 

Last Day at HRAC

After 5 weeks, I’ve reached my final day with HRAC and the final day of my stay in Accra, generously supported by the Commonwealth in England Barristers’ Association (see post ‘Opportunities for Young Lawyers’ for more information). HRAC gave me a great send off. Although the working day normally finishes at 4pm, the team all stayed on for another hour or so for a farewell gathering, which included mouthwatering but very spicy kebabs for all to enjoy, a few bottles of lager, and one of the biggest cakes I’ve ever seen. I was also given a farewell gift: a red and white HRAC t-shirt. I hope there’s space for it in my backpack, considering all the clothes I’ve had made in the last five weeks (see post ‘Fabric  Shopping’ for more on this)!

I thought this would be a good opportunity to do a brief recap of everything (work-related) I’ve managed to cram into the past month. Most of what I have done has been detailed at length in previous blog posts, but not everything.

Drafting a paper on LGBT rights in Ghana

This was my first piece of work – totalling nearly 40 pages in length – and drawing extensively on work I have previously done with the Human Dignity Trust and the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies. 

The paper outlines the international, regional and domestic legal framework in respect of the criminalisation of homosexuality in Ghana. It also addresses recent anti-LGBT laws passed in Uganda and Nigeria and argues why it would be folly for Ghana to follow suit, taking into account its international obligations and rights protected by its own constitution.  The paper will be used by HRAC as an advocacy tool and will be submitted to the Ministry of Gender.

Research and proposals on disability rights in Ghana

I prepared a briefing paper on the socioeconomic rights of disabled people in Ghana, written for and submitted to the US Embassy. Following submission, the Embassy asked HRAC to put together an expression of interest for project funding. I had to quickly plan and cost a project and put together that proposal. I have recently discovered that the proposal was accepted by the Embassy and will be implemented in 2015.

Human Rights Clinic

HRAC runs a legal advice clinic, providing assistance to the general public. I shadowed and took notes for a few advice sessions. One case concerned an employment matter, and another concerned a matrimonial dispute. The latter I found particularly interesting and more information can be found in my post ‘Family Law in Ghana’.

Kewunor Dispute

I prepared a report for the Human Rights Clinic after having met with a client in Ada Foah who, along with 1500 others, was at risk of being forcibly evicted from his home and business in Kewunor. I visited the village and met with local residents. The paper traces the complex land history and is now with a local human rights lawyer, who has agreed to take up the case.

The Constitutional Review

In this paper – also totalling close to 40 pages – I considered the recommendations of the Constitutional Review Commission and their compatibility of the proposed new Constitution with Ghana’s international obligations. As the CRC’s recommendations are numerous, I only focussed on a few discrete areas, with other colleagues focussing in on other areas. My areas of interest included:

• the CRC’s recommendations regarding citizenship;
• the CRC’s recommendations regarding the death penalty and the punishment of life without parole;
• the CRC’s recommendations regarding pre-charge and pre-trail detention;
• the CRC’s recommendations regarding the arrest and detention of disabled people;
• the CRC’s  recommendations regarding discrimination against LGBT people;
• the CRC’s recommendations regarding fair trial rights;
• the CRC’s recommendations regarding children in court – including best practice in determining the age of juveniles, and obtaining children’s best evidence in court; and the CRC’s recommendations regarding trial time limits.

Court Visits

As well as the above, I also attended court on a few occasions. Twice I attended the Gender Based Violence Court to provide support to the mother of the complainant and to take a noting brief in a case in which HRAC was intervening. The case concerned the alleged rape of a young girl, and my observations are detailed in previous posts.

I also arranged a visit to the Supreme Court complex independently of my time with HRAC. This is also detailed in a previous post.

In retrospect, that was a busy month indeed! 

Forced Evictions

My trip to Ada Foah (see previous post) wasn’t all pleasure. Some work was involved. I was meeting with Wilfred Dzinado, the owner of Maranatha Beach Camp. He had, a few weeks ago, called the Human Rights Clinic at HRAC requesting help for a human rights complaint. I was there to investigate. His story is both sad and complicated, and should make us give careful thought to who really benefits from western style development.

This is Wilfred’s story.

Wilfred has owned the Maranatha Beach Camp in Kewunor Village, on the easternmost island of the peninsular of Ada Foah, for some 10 years. His camp is right next door to another, Midan Beach Camp. Both provide simple accommodation in reed huts, aimed at Ghanaian and international budget travellers and volunteers. The profits from Maranatha Beach Camp are ploughed back into the community in Kewunor. In particular, the profits fund the village school. Wilfred is currently in the process of building a new school structure, made from concrete rather than reeds. Maranatha Beach Camp profits also pay the school’s teachers. Many people from Kewunor are employed by Wilfred’s Camp.

The Bradt Guide to Ghana, the leading English-language travel guide for the country, describes Maranatha Beach Camp as follows:

“Located 2km southeast of town [Ada Foah], right next door to the Midas New Estuary Beach Club, this lusciously laid-back resort has an equally attractive location and is pretty similar in feel, though the reed huts, with mosquito nets above the beds and brightly painted world flags on the front doors, have sand floors only. Compost toilets and bucket showers. A portion of the proceeds is ploughed into local community projects such as turtle conservation and the maintenance of a school in the nearby village.”

However, the land underneath Kewunor Village has a complex history.

The tiny village of Kewunor is just a stone’s throw from the slightly larger Azizanya village, both of which lie in a municipality now known as Ada, or Dangme East District. The municipality was settled by four Dangme-speaking clans who, many, many years ago migrated from Lorlorvor, near the Shai hills, and were drawn to the area by the Songor Lagoon.  The territory was divided among the four clans, including the Lombiawe clan and the Dangmebiawe clan.

After the Katamanso War in 1826, Nene Tetegah of the Lomobiawe clan founded the town of Ada Foah. Since then, the whole of Ada Foah has been owned by the Tetegah family.

Kewunor itself was settled by Emmanuel Yetiekpor, an Ewe fisherman, in or around 1909. At that time Yetiekpor and his family lived on a portion of the land that is now in the sea. Under the authority of the Ada Foah chief (a member of the Tetegah family), Yetiekpor became the first chief of the Kewunor. The current village settlement was established in the 1940s. Yetiekpor’s descendants remain chiefs of the village. Today, the village is home to around 1,500 people.

In 1974, under an Executive Instrument dated 26 April, the Ghana Tourist Authority (GTA) acquired the island of Kewunor from the Tetegha family for use in tourism development. The land was surveyed, coconut trees counted, and full monetary compensation paid to the Tetegah family. However, the project was abandoned and the government has made no use of the land they acquired. All the while the people of Kewunor have resided there and cared for the land.

In 1990, the GTA under different leadership approached the Tetegah family requesting additional land. The family refused to give them more land, citing the government’s failure to develop the land it took in the 1974 acquisition.

In 2009 the Dangmebiawe clan of Ada entered into discussions with a major development compnay, to sell a parcel of 178 acres in Azizanya (including Kewunor) for the development of a luxury tourist resort. The Dangmebiawe Clan also began corresponding with the GTA, requesting the return of the piece of land acquired by the government under the 1974 Executive Instrument, claiming that the land was wrongfully acquired. In a letter from Atsu Gorleku & Co., the lawyers of the Dangmebiawe clan, to the Ministry of Tourism dated 3^rd August 2010, they claimed that the government in 1974 wrongfully paid compensation to William D. Nanor (a member of the Tetegah family). This, they say, was a fraudulent acquisition, because the Tetegah family did not own the land. However, others claim that the Tetegah family did, in fact, own the land and that the acquisition was therefore legitimate. Although a record of the sale no longer exists (if it ever did), a site plan constructed in 1931 to settle boundary disputes between Futuenya and Ada Foah reflects the Tetegah family as the rightful owners.

After executives of the development company discovered that the parcel of land in question was vested in the name of the GTA, they began dealing with the GTA directly. This prompted several letters from the Dangmebiawe clan to the Ministry of Tourism. In January 2011, Nene Osabutey Lamuer Okumo III (divisional chief and head of the Dangmebiawe clan) sent a letter to late President John Evans Atta Mills requesting the release of the Azizanya land to the Dangmebiawe, and in September of that year he sent a further request to the Lands Commission to release the land to the development company, following a settlement between the clan and the company.

In August 2012 the GTA sent a letter with an attached site plan to the Lands Commission requesting a lease on the Kewunor land so they could sub-lease it to the development company. The request was approved in December 2012. The Ghana Tourist Authority was granted a Government Mixed Use Lease on 72.94 acres of land in Azizanya for a period of 50 years. The lease was to take effect on 1^st August 2012.

In October 2013, the development company sent a formal vacate notice to Kewunor Acting Chief Torgburi Badzi insisting that all structures be removed from the site within 30 days. On 20^th November the company held a sod-cutting ceremony* on the premises of Midas Beach Camp, to which they invited Azizanya Assemblyman Tettech Akli to appear as an honoured guest, but failed to notify the people of Kewunor and proprietors of Midas and Maranatha Beach Camps.

As the situation currently stands, according to Wilfred, no proposal for compensation has been made to the 1,500 people in the Kewunor community who will be displaced if the luxury development goes ahead. A proposal for relocation has been made to a site very close to Kewunor. However, the site is extremely small and would not host the entire community. Moreover, the proposed area in a natural lagoon. During high tide, the site is underwater.

Wilfred has been offered compensation of GHC 30,000 (£6000) but no relocation proposal. He is not willing to accept this offer, which is inadequate compensation for the destruction of his entire livelihood.

The community has many complaints about the proposed development, aside from failure to relocate and failure to provide any or any adequate compensation. At present, Midas and Maranatha Beach Camps are frequented by the community. New luxurious resorts will be out of reach of the average Ghanaian. Wilfred believes that local people will not be allowed to frequent the resorts.

The community make their livelihoods from fishing. They are uniquely situated on a narrow stretch of land with the ocean on one side and the Volta river on the other. It is unlikely they will be able to continue their fishing businesses in another location.

The community houses a school which is funded from Maranatha Beach Camp’s profits, and maintained by volunteers who stay at the camp. If the Camp no longer exists, the lifeblood of the school will be cut off.

The development company has said that their development will open up job opportunities for local people. However, the community are fishermen and will not have the relevant skills for working in the new development.

The proposed area for development is also a turtle nesting site, where giant turtles breed from August to December. The development may therefore have a major environmental impact. Moreover, Maranatha Beach Camp helps to fund turtle protection in the local area.

Wilfred is of the view that his community are being targeted because they are seen as “outsiders”. There is other land in the area that is currently not developed and where no one lives that the company could consider for their resort. The village of Kewunor is primarily Ewe speaking, whilst those in the surrounding area speak Ada. Mr Dzinado says that he thinks this is one of the reasons that the District Assembly has failed to fund schools in Kewunor and why they are willing to sacrifice their land.

The issue is enormously complex, but I am moved at Wilfred’s commitment to his cause. Meeting him and working on trying to understand the case was the most rewarding work I have done in Ghana so far. HRAC is now taking up this case. 

*A sod-cutting ceremony is a traditional ceremony that celebrates the first day of a construction project.

Ada Foah

I have spent the past three days in Ada Foah – a town on the eastern South Coast where the Volta River meets the sea. I was there on a fact finding visit on Monday, but decided to head there on Saturday to get to be a bit of a tourist over the weekend and enjoy some quality free time.

Getting to Ada Foah from Accra is easy – a straightforward tro-tro ride from Tudu Station all the way there, which costs only 9 cedi (£1.80), and takes around 2 hours. Coming home it is best to take a tro-tro from Ada Foah to Ada Junction (2 cedi / £0.40) and then a tro-tro from there back to Accra. 

The town itself is sleepy and pleasant, but there’s not much to see or do. I ambled around the small market for a little while, but apparently it only really comes to life on Wednesdays. If you are heading to Ada, head out of town to the beaches in the surrounding villages.

I stayed at the Maranatha Beach Camp: a little piece of tropical paradise. It’s best accessed by boat and on arrival in Ada Foah I called the camp who promptly arranged a canoe to pick me up from the Volta bank and whisk me a few kilometres downstream to the estuary.

Maranatha Beach Camp is located on a very narrow strip of golden sand, lined with colourfully painted coconut trees. The narrow peninsular – probably only around 200 meters across, cuts through the Volta on one side and the ocean on the other. Accommodation is made up of simple reed huts, with sand floors, and containing just a bed, mosquito net and table. There is no electricity in the huts, which cost only 25 cedi (around £5) per night. Simple local meals are available at the restaurant for around 10 cedis (£2), and there is a reasonably stocked bar.  Toilets are compost toilets and showers are bucket showers only. There are bonfires and music on Saturday nights, which was great fun and a great way of getting to know everyone in the village.

One of the best reasons to stay at Maranatha (other than the idyllic location and the cheap price) is that profits are ploughed back into the local community. The beach camp helps to fund a school in the village (directly behind the camp), as well as turtle conservation projects.

The best thing to do at Maranatha is just soak in the natural beauty. It really is a spectacular location, and well observed from a comfy hammock. I was not in season for turtle viewing (best August to December). Other things to do include swimming, strolling and boating.

I took a stroll through the tiny fishing village of Kewunor, directly behind the camp. It’s a remarkably friendly village and the kids are always up for playing football or being swung in the hammocks (and if you are in a hammock you may have no choice other than to find yourself being swung – likely with a whole host of children piling in on top of you).

It’s also a great place to observe village life. The vast majority of the villagers make their livings from fishing and their colourful boats line the river bank. The houses are all made of thatch and palm reeds, and most are without electricity. Water comes directly from the Volta or from a well in the middle of the village. Some electricity comes from a small windmill and a generator.

I also took a boat trip out to visit some neighbouring islands, including “Rum Island” – home to a sugar cane farm which produces awfully strong tasting white and red rum. I’d never heard of red rum until this weekend. It’s coloured by mahogany wood. 

Gender-Based Violence Court 2

I’ve been back to court to follow the continuing case I shadowed last week (see previous post of same title). Today the Defence opened its case and my role was purely to take a note of the evidence and also to provide some moral support to the mother of the alleged victim in court.

We stood outside in the heat for a while before entering court as the evidence of a child in another case was in progress and the judge had ordered the court to be cleared. I am pleased that the privacy of the child and protecting the child from intimidation was rightly considered by the judge, absent any formal guidance of how to approach such cases. I raised this concern in my previous post.

Again, prior to our case being called I sat through several other cases, of which one witness was heard in each case prior to it being adjourned for a week or so. I was disappointed by the prosecutor – who had the unenviable task of prosecuting each and every case in that court. That’s a big case load. I was disappointed as her cross-examinations consistently failed to build up a case. There was no “boiling the frog”. In fact, in many cases, I was at times unclear as to whether she was making a cross examination or an examination in chief!

Life Without Parole

Between my court visits and Human Rights Clinic shadowing, I have been working on an opinion for HRAC on the Constitutional Review Commission’s recommendations for the new Constitution (see post here http://theflyinglawyer.blogspot.com/2014/07/hrac-my-second-assignment.html).

One of the recommendations that particularly struck me was that the death penalty be abolished and be replaced with the punishment of life without parole. Whilst the formal abolition of the death penalty is, in my opinion, undoubtedly a good thing (Ghana has been abolitionist in practice since 1993), I was concerned that the Commission advocated the sentence of life without parole without any analysis of the human rights implications of imposing such a sentence.

The attraction for the CRC of recommending life without parole as an alternative to the death penalty is understandable. It would allow the government to clam they are protecting the public by permanently removing serious offenders from society and appeases public outcry at the release of convicts on parole. However, the reality of the alternative punishment is frequently a protracted, hopeless death in unspeakable conditions (for more on this see this article by Garden Court Chamber’s Tom Stoate http://www.theguardian.com/profile/tom-stoate). This has serious human rights implications which have not at all been addressed in the CRC’s analysis.

Whole life sentences, for example, fail to take into account an individual’s capacity for redemption and rehabilitation, something of which there is growing legal recognition. Although and individual’s right to liberty under Art. 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is a qualified right, and can be deprived in accordance with the law on the basis of ensuring public safety; where an individual no longer represents a threat to society and has demonstrated genuine remorse, any further period of imprisonment may be deemed arbitrary and thus unlawful. Art. 10 ICCPR states that detained persons must be treated with human dignity, and arbitrary incarceration is cruel and undignified.

There is a growing body of case law condemning the use of whole life or other indeterminate sentences. For example, in James, Wells and Lee v the United Kingdom (2012) ECHR 1706,  the European Court of Human Rights ruled “arbitrary and unlawful” the operation of indeterminate sentences, currently being served by prisoners in England and Wales. Justice Bratza, the President of the Court said:

“I consider that the time has come when the court should clearly affirm that the imposition of an irreducible life sentence, even on an adult offender, is in principle inconsistence with article three [freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment] of the [European] convention”.

In 2006, Lord Phillips, former President of the Supreme Court of England and Wales said:

“Some murderers are being sentenced to a minimum of 30 years, or even full-life terms. But I sometimes wonder whether, in 100 years’ time, people will be as shocked by the length of sentences we are imposing as we are by some of the punishments of the 18^th century.”

In Vinter v the United Kingdom [2012] ECHR 61, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights held that whole life sentences, where the prisoner has no hope of release, were inhuman and degrading and therefore unlawful. The Court held that for the Convention to be compatible with the European Convention, there had to be both a possibility of release and a possibility of review.

Art. 10 ICCPR states that the “essential aim” of the penitentiary system is “reformation and social rehabilitation”. The essential aim is not, therefore, punishment or revenge. Imprisonment for life with no hope of parole destroys any possibility of social reformation. Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of Douglas Vinter, who was sentenced to whole life imprisonment in the UK after committing a double murder. In a letter he wrote to the Guardian newspaper he said:

“I am sitting in the segregation unit and have been for a number of weeks. I was involved in a stabbing (not fatal) on the wing. You see how I can admit in a letter to an offence as serious as that. It’s because the judge when he sentenced me to natural life gave me an invisible licence that said I can breach any laws I want, no matter how serious, and the law can’t touch me. I’m above the law. I said to the governor, don’t waste any money on investigations, just give me another life sentence for my collection. They don’t mean anything any more.”

Whole life sentences are even more disturbing when they are made mandatory, and there is a growing body of case law which indicates that the imposition of a mandatory life term of imprisonment offends the principles of a fair hearing. This is particularly so where a sentencing hearing gives the court no scope to mitigate a life term regardless of an individual’s personal circumstances and the circumstances of the offence for which they fall to be sentenced. In The State v Vries [1997] 4 LRC, the High Court Namibia held that a mandatory minimum sentence was unconstitutional as it infringed the protection against cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment guaranteed by Art. 8(2)(b) of the Constitution. This was followed in State v Likuwa [2000] 1 LRC 600, where mandatory minimum sentences were struck out for all purposes.

Lord Bingham, sitting in the Privy Council in the De Boucherville case said:

“The sentence of life imprisonment is now the most severe penalty for which the law provides. There is ground for concern if the sentence is imposed on those who, despite the seriousness of their crime, could be adequately punished by a determinate sentence. Indeed, any mandatory or minimum mandatory sentence arouses concern that it may operate in a disproportionate manner in some cases. It was considerations of this kind which led the Supreme Court of Canada to conclude that a mandatory 7 year minimum sentence for importing drugs was incompatible with section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guaranteed that no one should be subjected to cruel and unusual treatment or punishment: R v Smith (Edward Dewey) [1987] 1 SCR 1045.”

The Statute of the International Criminal Court, which deals with the grossest offences, including genocide, provides for a maximum of 30 years imprisonment. Even this can only be justified by the “extreme gravity of the crime and the individual circumstances of the convicted person”.