Profile: Dr Raymond Atuguba – Executive Secretary to the President

Dr Raymond Akongburo Atuguba has been appointed by President John Dramani Mahama as his Executive Secretary.

From 2000-2004, he attended Harvard Law School, Doctor of Juridical Sciences and with distinction Studied: Politics and Economics of Development; Law and Development; International Law, Human Rights and Development; and Law and Organising.

1999-2000, Harvard Law School, Master of Laws. Studied: International Human Rights and Development; and International Finance.

1997-1999, Ghana School of Law and obtained certification as Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ghana.

1993-1997, University of Ghana, Legon, Bachelor of Laws, First Class Honours.
Studied Law, Political Science, and Sociology.

Employment

Dr Raymond A. Atuguba is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, where he teaches Constitutional Law; Administrative Law; Ghana Legal Systems and Method; Jurisprudence; Conflict of Laws (Private International Law); and several Constitutional Law, Governance, Human Rights, and Law and Development Seminars.

He has previously taught Human Rights and Law and Development Seminars at Harvard University and Monash University and been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Nottingham. He is now a Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University and also Fellow at the International Institute for the Advanced Study of Cultures, Institutions and Economic Enterprise (IIAS).

Dr Atuguba is also Team Leader of the Law and Development Associates (LADA) a multidisciplinary firm, incorporating a law firm that specialises in the provision of IDEAS, SOLUTIONS, and FACILITATION for the resolution of the myriad of problems that keep the African Continent in a paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty.

LADA’s areas of focus are at the intersection of Law, Human Rights, Public Policy, Governance, and Development Practice.

He is co-founder of the Legal Resources Centre, a human rights and development organisation in Ghana, of which he has previously been the Executive Director.

Publications

Dr Atuguba has researched and published extensively, mostly in relation to the intersection of law, human rights, policy, governance, the politics and economics of development, institutions and institutional change. Some of these publications are: “The Right to Health in Ghana: Health Care, Human Rights, and Politics” in Zuniga JM, Marks SP, Gostin LO (eds), Advancing the Human Right to Health, Oxford University Press, 2013; “Equality, non-discrimination and fair distribution of the benefits of development,” Realising the Right to Development: Essays in Commemoration of 25 Years of the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development, United Nations, 2013; “Grounding with the People: Participatory Policy Making in the Context of Constitution Review in Ghana”, Journal of Politics and Law, 2013; “God, Human Rights, Law, Development and the Missing Link of History”, African Agenda, 2011; Uses and Users of Justice in Africa: The Case of Ghana’s Specialised Courts, World Bank, 2010;

“The Constitutional and Legal Framework for oversight of the Security Sector in Ghana: Outstanding Matters for the Ghana Police Service”, University of Ghana Law Journal, 2008-2010; “Inside Ghana’s Prisons” African Agenda, 2010; “Customary Law: Some Critical Perspectives in Aid of the Constitution Making Process in Zimbabwe” in Norbert Kersting (ed), Constitution in Transition: Academic Inputs for a New Constitution in Zimbabwe, FES, 2009; “Public Interest Litigation: A Critical Ingredient for Effective Human Rights Activism in Africa”, WAPILC Quarterly, 2009; “Making International Policy: A Stern Look at Ghana’s Policies on Migration and Remittances”, Legon Journal of International Affairs, 2009; “Ebi Constitution we go Chop: An Examination of Article 1(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana”, Interfaculty Lecture, 2009.

“Rights and the Limits of Public Interest Law: Ghana’s Reaction to a Messy World Phenomenon”, UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs, 2008; “The Colonial State Lives on: Reflections on the Colonial Character of Ghana’s Police”, African Agenda, 2008; “Urban Environmental Initiatives: Exploring Urban Youth Potentials in Solid Waste Management in Accra, Ghana” in Waste Management Research Trends, Nova Publishers, 2008; “Democratisation and the Governance of the Security Sector in Ghana: The Case of the Ghana Police Service”, University of Ghana Law Journal, 2005-2007; “Ghana @ 50: Colonised and Happy”, in H. J. A. N. Mensa-Bonsu et. al. (eds) Ghana Law Since Independence: History, Development and Prospects, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, 2007; “The Internet and Lawyers in Ghana: Some Initial Qualitative Perspectives”, Library Review, 2007; “Social Exclusion: The Political and Legal Dimension”, in Ghana Human Development Report 2007: Towards a More Inclusive Society, UNDP, 2007; “The Ghana Police Service: A Practical Agenda for Reform”; IEA Policy Analysis, 2007;

“The Rule of Law and National Security: Challenges for the Judiciary” in Gilbert Bluwey and Kofi Kumado, Ghana in Search of National Security Policy, 2007; “Conflicts in Northern Ghana: A Mirror of Answers to Sub-Regional Stability and Security Questions” Journal of International and Peace Studies, 2006; “Ghana: Changing our Inherited Police Institutions” in Ann Seidman, Robert B. Seidman, et al, Africa’s Challenge: Using Law for Good Governance and Development, Africa World Press, 2006; Human Trafficking in Ghana: A Review of Legislation, ILO, 2005 (book); “Ghana Developing Through Law”, IEA Policy Analysis, 2005; “Abochie, Where is my Police? The Police Force and the Political Economy of Ghana”, Interfaculty Lecture, 2005; “Ghana: changing urban environmental ills in slum communities” Environmental Policy and Law, 2004;

“Ghana: Migration and the African Urban Complex” in Toyin Falola and Steven J. Salm, (Eds), Globalisation and Urbanisation in Africa, Africa World Press, 2004; Raymond Atuguba et al, Child Maintenance in Plural Legal Systems in Ghana: Institutional and Legal Research, Ministry of Justice, Ghana and GTZ, 2004 (book); “Institutional Continuities: The Police in the Regulation of Public Order and Alcohol in Ghana.” Doctoral Dissertation, Harvard Law School, 2004; “Human Rights Activism in Ghana: Reality, Apparitions, and Dreams”, LLM Paper, Harvard Law School, 2000; “Retention versus Abolition: A look at the Death Penalty in Ghana”. LLB Dissertation, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, 1997.

Dr Atuguba has also presented more than 160 papers at national and international conferences, including expert papers to the leadership of Parliament and to Parliamentary Committees, and facilitated dozens of training workshops.

Consultancy

Dr Atuguba has consulted for many governments, government agencies and international organizations, and travelled widely on those assignments. They include the Government of Ghana; the Government of Liberia, UNDP, UN-OHCHR, UNODC, the World Bank, ECOWAS, DFID, EU, USAID, GTZ (GIS), DANIDA, ILO, IOM, FES, British Council, IIED, CHRI, OSIWA, IBIS, Action Aid International, Plan International, and Oxfam.

From 2008 and 2010 he was a member of the United Nations High Level Task Force on the Implementation of the Right to Development.

From 2010 and 2012, he was appointed by the President of Ghana as the Executive Secretary of the Constitution Review Commission which was charged with reviewing the 1992 Constitution.

Fellowships, Awards, Board and Committee Members

Dr Atuguba has been James Souverine Gallo Memorial Fellow at Harvard University; Jennifer Oppenheimer Fellow at Harvard University; Graduate Fellow at Harvard Law School; and Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University.

He is a member of the Ghana Bar Association; the African Studies Association; and the Ghana Society for Development Dialogue.

Dr Atuguba has served on more than 50 Boards and Committees, nationally and internationally, including as Member, International Consortium on Law and Development, Boston, USA; Member, the Board of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, N.Y, USA; Chair, Ghana NGOs/CSOs Standards Commission; Member, Board of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII); Co-Chair, Board of the Legal Resources Centre, Ghana; Member, National Media Commission Group of Experts on Public Broadcasting; Member, Ghana Advocacy Steering Committee for a Broadcasting Law; Member, Supervisory Committee, Economic Policy Management Programme, Department of Economics, University of Ghana; Member, Educational Advisory Committee of the Judicial Training Institute; Member, Policy Sub-Committee of the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy, University of Ghana.

Member, Technical Committee for the West African Public Interest Litigation Center, Abuja, Nigeria; Chair, Ethics Board, Institute for the Advanced Study of Cultures, Institutions and Economic Enterprise; Member, Advisory Committee (Reference Group), Amnesty International-Ghana; Member, NGOs/Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Working Group on NGO/CSO Legislation in Ghana; Member, Inter-Faculty Working Group, Centre for Migration Studies, University of Ghana; Member, Legislation and Law Reform Committee of the Ghana Bar Association; Member, Council of the Federation of Youth Clubs, Nima-Mamobi, Ghana; Member, Technical Committee for the Review of the Sale of Ghana Telecom to Vodafone Ltd.

Languages

1. Several Ghanaian languages: Native Speaker.
2. English: Fluent.
3. French: Working knowledge.

Source: GNA