On 15 March 2020, the President of the Republic of Ghana addressed the nation on anti-coronavirus measures which took effect immediately. He directed the Attorney-General to submit an emergency legislation to Parliament and the Minister for Health to issue an immediate Executive Instrument to regulate the relevant measures. Five days later, Parliament passed the Imposition of Restrictions Act, 2020 (IRA) after a voice count in its favour. A few days, thereafter, the President issued an Executive Instrument (E.I. 64) pursuant to the IRA. The minority members of Parliament, some legal scholars and interested Ghanaians expressed their disapproval of the procedures leading to the enactment of the IRA as well as its nature, form and content. The contentions cover multiple constitutional and legal grounds including the procedural propriety of using a voice vote in Parliament for emergency legislation, the necessity of a new emergency legislation and the time limit for the new emergency legislation. Essentially, these issues point to assessing the overall constitutionality of the law-making procedures and legislative provisions of the IRA. This is the focus of this paper. The paper argues that the IRA stands unconstitutional from the very beginning of its intended existence. The paper concludes that while the IRA is currently operational, its continued existence is challengeable under the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, thus, there is a window of opportunity to right the wrong.

In February 2018, a video of a mortuary attendant touching and fondling two dead bodies at the Bechem hospital morgue, in the Ahafo Region of Ghana, was leaked on various social media platforms nationwide. In the video, the mortuary attendant was allegedly touching and fondling the naked corpses of the late Ghanaian dancehall artiste, Priscilla Opoku-Kwarteng, popularly known as Ebony Reigns, and her friend. The video triggered public disapproval. Consequently, the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Health Service initiated investigations into the matter. The family, and manager of the late dancehall artiste, also indicated their plans to file an action against the hospital where the video was taken. The incident gave rise to ethical and medico-legal issues such as the position of Ghanaian law on necrophilia, the legal status of a dead person, the liabilities, rights and interests of all affected parties connected to a dead person, and the ethical aspects of necrophilia within the Ghanaian society. These issues are the subject of this paper.

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