Legal experts across the Africa have gathered in Accra to brainstorm on making legal information accessible to all.
According to the lawyers, unlimited access to legislation would ensure that citizens have basic information in law to enable them seek for professional counseling in their dealings, especially, in the business environment, their rights as citizens, among others.
Among the participating countries are Liberia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Nigeria.
The two-day workshop on “Open Law” would focus on the role of free access to law in deepening democracy, the rule of law, and strengthening of the legal sector in the West Africa.
Issues to be discussed include; the status of access to Legal Information in West Africa and Ghana: an outsider’s perspective, free access to law, the rule of law and development, crimes of passion: a gendered approach to judging?, access to law initiatives in West Africa: LiberLII, SierraLII and GHALII, partnering for free access to legal information: developing strategic relationships.
The rest are; discussion on strategic support from justice sector stakeholders for free access to law in Ghana and West Africa, taking stock, identifying the challenges and opportunities, sustainability of free access to law, technology for free access to law – electronic legal research – needs and implementation and strategies for developing access to law in West Africa.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Oluwatoyin Badejogbin from the African Legal Information Institute, said the initiative is to empower the people to know their rights, obligations of government and limits of public power.
“With free access to information, they are empowered to constructively participate in the process of governance. We think that that is what eventually brings about development, stronger democracies, and the participation of rights”.
Dr. Henry Mbawa from the Sierra Leone Legal Information Institute said “Legal information is critical to improving access to justice”.
Chairman of the Subsidiary Legislative Committee of Parliament, Hon. Osei Bonsu Amoah, who is a co-founder of the Ghana Legal Information Institute (GHALII) commenting on the initiative said his outfit would be working in conjunction with state institutions to ensure that the citizenry are able to access legal information freely.
“We say we are in a democracy but if you make laws and people even don’t have access to the law, even though it is said that ignorance of the law is not excuse, the non availability of the law undermines the rule of law. So, the average person should know which laws have been made to govern him. If at the end of the day he doesn’t know the laws, then how does he say that he is under rule of law?” he quizzed.
The major focus of the experts is how to use internet based tools to freely access legal information.