The Legal Aid Commission (LAC) in collaboration with the Legal Resources Centre have commenced their Legal aid week celebration in the Volta regional capital, Ho.
The celebration, according to the organisers, is planned to be an annual celebration to highlight the existence of the Legal Aid Commission and to help the poor who cannot afford the services of lawyer because of the expensive nature of hiring legal services.
The Programmes Officer with Legal Resources Centre (LRC) Robert Tettey Nomo Jnr said, the activity came out of some project that the LRC is undertaking which is the Justice Sector Support (JSS) activity funded by the USAID.
“This activity focuses on monitoring and the utilization of the Ghana case tracking system. As part of the activities, there are number of awareness creation programmes. We want to strengthen Justice Sector institutions such as the Legal Aid Commission, the Ghana Police and Prison services, the Attorney General Department, EOCO etc”
He noted that, the Legal aid week celebration is a nationwide activity, the train has been to the Upper East and the Northern regions. This week the train takes a stop at the Volta Region.
He said the commemoration of the Legal aid celebration which was held with a town hall meeting focused on bringing together the grassroots people to let them know about the legal aid commission, the Legal Aid Act (Act 997) and how to access the services of the Legal Aid Commission.
He said the weeklong celebration is open to the general public to come and access any legal service including advises from the team of legal personnel at the LAC.
“This doesn’t end here today, throughout this week from 29th to the 2nd of December, we have Lawyers from the Legal Resources Centre who are going to be working together with lawyers within the Volta region to attend to clients who have cases. So we will be having what is called the legal aid clinic”
He indicated that, their activities during the celebration will feature radio discussions, community engagements through the Information Service Department and centres to create awareness and educate residents on the LAC, its importance and benefits adding that, their main focus is promoting access to justice especially opening doors to people who cannot afford legal services to get representation as well as their legal matters resolved.
“We are looking at having people not to be restrained in anyway. Because sometimes people will tell you that the cost and these traditional and customary perceptions about seeking legal redress make them to relent. we are trying to clear some of these things so that people can easily get access to justice.” He stated.
Lawyer Godwin Kpoble, the Regional Director of LAC lamented over inadequate logistic including finance, vehicle, equipment among others and called on government to help address them.
He observed that, the institution has been changed from scheme to commission which has made them independent and not subject to any control, direction and no longer under the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice and also given them some financial autonomy therefore, it is their hope to be financially independent to carry their activities but it seems that has not been the case.
He said, their major problem is the inability to have their representation at the District levels but they are doing their best to open more district and municipal offices at the various Municipal and District assemblies (MDA’s) across the entire Volta region adding that, the whole Volta region has only 3 district office in addition to the regional office however, the newly created OTI Region has no office.
He said despite their effort over the years, most Municipal and District Assemblies (MDA’) promised but failed in honouring their pledges of office space provision for the commission.
“We went severally round all the districts and all the Assemblies promised us, in fact we’ve been going periodically to all the Assemblies to have public education and awareness creation. They invite us to their Assembly meetings and we go to educate them. They always receive us very well and promise us office but unfortunately, over the period, they themselves have been complaining about lack of office space. Though they promise us, they never delivered” he lamented.
He noted that, until the LAC is able to solve the issue of office space accommodation, their visibility in the district may still not be too good.
He added that, looking at the time LAC was established, it is not the best to live in this state with many challenges as a commission.
He called on all the MDA’s to see LAC as partners than “enemies”.
Most of the politicians may think that if per our mandate, if we enlighten people on their rights and they know their rights, they will take us on. We are not political so we pray the Assemblies will see that, we are very important. A very important institution and give us office spaces”.
He also mentioned the challenge of inadequate staff strength and also issues of accessibility as he said, there is no vehicle for the office. A situation which always force staff to rely on their own cars and that of public transport.
He said the national Service personnel and that of NABCO are the major source of assistance over the years.
He further called on the government to increase their budget. “Because we are not income generating, people probably see our use but if you look at the testimonies of people, the number of cases and statistics for this year alone, we are doing a lot so I believe we deserve increase in our budget. We pray that government should not cut our budget when we prepare it so we can be more efficient and have our presence truly felt up to the barest grassroots level.”
He observed that their works and activities in the region is commendable with the limited resources.
The Supervising High Court Judge in Ho, the Chairman of the program, His Lordship George Buadi, called on all participants and the entire citizenry to desist from the usual Ghanaian “leave it to God” attitude and seek legal redress at all-time should there be the need.
He charged all to have the constitution of the Republic of Ghana and use it as the second “bible” adding that, with that, we can have a law abiding society.
Lawyer Clarke Noyoru from LRC took participants through the topic for discussion “LEGAL AID, CHARADE?” where he explained the various purposes and activities LAC and LRC has been carrying out over the years to best appreciate the role of the commission as well as LRC.
Mr. Abel Agbeka, Madam Yayra Agbomla and Madam Godsway Abokpui who were beneficiaries of the LAC took turns to share their experiences with the participants and further encouraged them to seek the services of LAC should they be confronted with any legal challenges.
An interactive section was held where officials took time to engage all participants in an open forum for question and answer section.
As at October, 2021, a total of 304 cases had been received and attended to by the ADR officers and the hardworking lawyers of the LAC in the Volta Region.
Among the cases recorded as at October 2021 under review included issues of maintenance, inheritance (intestate and testate), land and property, tenancy, criminal, family, labour, insurance and debt recovery.
Source: https://ignewss.com/legal-aid-commission-lrc-start-week-celebration-in-ho/
