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Judicial Reform and Human Security in West Africa: Comparative Lessons from Ghana and Sierra Leone Thomas Sheku Marah
Gloria Justitia Vol 6 No 1 (2026): JURNAL GLORIA JUSTITIA
Publisher : Fakultas Hukum Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | DOI: 10.25170/gloriajustitia.v6i1.7907

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between judicial reform, access to justice, and human security through a comparative analysis of Sierra Leone and Ghana between 2010 and 2024. Existing scholarship on African judicial reform has largely focused on institutional modernization, legal independence, and governance efficiency, while giving comparatively limited attention to how judicial performance shapes broader human-security outcomes such as public trust, legal protection, and procedural inclusion. Drawing on the Human Security Framework and Access to Justice Theory, the study employs a qualitative comparative methodology based on doctrinal analysis, policy documents, judicial reform strategies, governance reports, and court-performance materials. The findings demonstrate significant divergence in reform outcomes between the two countries. Ghana’s investments in digital case management, procedural transparency, and judicial administration have improved institutional responsiveness and public confidence, although challenges of digital inequality and uneven accessibility remain. By contrast, Sierra Leone continues to face structural constraints linked to limited institutional capacity, weak enforcement mechanisms, underfunding, and low technological integration. The article argues that judicial reform contributes to human security only when institutional modernization is accompanied by accessible, enforceable, and socially inclusive justice systems. It contributes to comparative governance scholarship by linking justice-sector reform to human-security outcomes in post-conflict African democracies.
Sierra Leone’s Constitutional Framework for Resource Governance and Economic Inequality: A Socio-Legal Study Thomas Sheku Marah
Constitutional Law Review Vol. 5 No. 1 (2026)
Publisher : IAIN Bone

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | DOI: 10.30863/clr.v5i1.5996

Abstract

This article examines why Sierra Leone has not fully translated its mineral wealth and post-conflict legal reforms into equitable and sustainable development outcomes. It argues that the problem cannot be explained solely by the resource curse thesis or by the absence of legal reform, but by the interaction between constitutional non-justiciability, statutory ambition, institutional capacity, and local political-economic asymmetries. Employing doctrinal legal analysis complemented by a socio-legal institutional perspective, the article analyses the Constitution of Sierra Leone 1991, the Mines and Minerals Development Act, 2022 (Act No. 16 of 2023), and relevant academic, policy, and institutional materials. The findings show that the Constitution provides important normative commitments to welfare, social justice, equality of opportunity, and the public use of natural resources, but the non-justiciability of the Fundamental Principles of State Policy limits their direct enforceability. The 2022 Act partially responds to this constitutional enforceability gap by strengthening Community Development Agreements, revenue-linked benefit-sharing mechanisms, transparency obligations, and environmental and social safeguards. However, these statutory mechanisms have not yet demonstrably produced commensurate distributive outcomes because their effectiveness remains constrained by weak regulatory capacity, uneven enforcement, informality in artisanal and small-scale mining, risks of elite capture, and unequal community participation. The article conceptualises this condition as a legalised distributive deficit, in which law formally recognises transparency, participation, benefit-sharing, and environmental protection while remaining unable to secure material redistribution without institutional enforcement, regulatory autonomy, and meaningful community accountability.
Governing blockchain in Africa: Regulatory capacity, fragmented authority, and digital sovereignty Kudakwashe Zhou; Thomas Sheku Marah
Priviet Social Sciences Journal Vol. 6 No. 7 (2026): July 2026
Publisher : Privietlab

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | DOI: 10.55942/pssj.v6i7.1990

Abstract

Blockchain technology is transforming financial governance and regulatory authority across Africa. However, existing scholarship often treats blockchain either as a developmental tool or as a technical and regulatory problem. This article argues that such approaches overlook the way decentralized digital infrastructures reconfigure the institutional distribution of governance authority. Drawing on a qualitative comparative analysis of blockchain governance frameworks in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa between 2017 and 2025, this study examines how African states regulate decentralized financial technologies under conditions of fragmented authority, uneven regulatory capacity, and technological dependency. Using regulatory governance theory and digital sovereignty scholarship, the analysis demonstrates that blockchain governance increasingly operates through polycentric regulatory arrangements involving state institutions, private technological actors, and transnational financial infrastructures. This article advances governance scholarship by conceptualizing digital sovereignty not primarily as territorial control over digital space but as the capacity to exercise infrastructural and regulatory authority within decentralized technological ecosystems.