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C. Impact of COVID-19 on governance landscape

Ministry of Justice

Remarks from Mr. Marenah conveyed how COVID-19 had severely slowed down the criminal justice delivery system, in a country

were a long backlog of cases persist and where courts have not been in full operation since March. This has resulted in cases being

prolonged, including pre-trial matters and detentions. Mr. Marenah noted with appreciation the efforts of UNDP to hasten court

proceedings through the introduction of the virtual courts, but even in this instance, judges have had to drastically reduce the number of

cases heard a day.

They have also been delays in the legislative programme with National Assembly sittings haven’t been delayed. Several bills are

currently tabled at the National Assembly, including the International Crimes Bill, the Criminal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, Access

to Information and Anti-Corruption bills.

The transitional justice agenda has also been impacted, most visibly in the TRRC’s suspension of its hearings. Here, the Solicitor

General noted, that the Government anticipates a 6-month extension of the TRRC’s mandate to be able to submit its final report and

recommendations.

Ministry of Interior

Mr. Idrisa Jallow from the Ministry of Interior noted that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, funding of several projects under the

EU and German cooperation frameworks have been suspended. Additionally, the Ministry has noticed an increase in the number of drug

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