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The Legal Aid Commission: An Important But Neglected State Institution

By Boateng Emmanuel
Article The Legal Aid Commission: An Important But Neglected State Institution
FRI, 17 JAN 2025 1

The legal aid commission was established in Ghana in the year 1987 under the PNDC Law 184. It was known as the legal aid scheme until 2018 when parliament passed the Legal Aid Commission Act (Act 977). Both the 1992 Constitution and the Legal Aid Act, 2018 (Act 977) obligates the commission to offer legal services to the poor and vulnerable through legal education, advice, assistance, mediation and representation at no cost. The commission undertakes its functions through three different divisions, namely the Citizens Advisory Division which is responsible for providing free legal advice to citizens, the Public Defenders Division which comprises of lawyers who are responsible for representing individuals who seek the assistance of the Commission at the Law Court, and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Division which is also there to assist disputants resolve their disputes amicably through mediation without going to the courtroom. According to the Ghana statistical service, about 24.2% of Ghana’s 34.12 million population can be classified as poor and vulnerable because they live below the poverty line. This reflects the vital responsibility of the Legal Aid Commission in ensuring that the legal needs of all these individuals are met. Despite the crucial role of the Legal Aid Commission in justice delivery, it is bedeviled with the many problems of most state institutions in Ghana.

PROBLEMS OF LEGAL AID COMMISSION
Like many state institutions in the country, Legal Aid commission currently faces the problem of inadequate funding. the 1992 Constitution of Ghana under Chapter 13, article 175 to 185 stipulates that all state institutions that are non-income generating shall be funded by the government through the ministry of finance. As such, the source of income for the Legal Aid Commission only comes from the government. At the moment the only fee collected by the commission is a GHC5 registration fee which does not go to the coffers of the commission. as a results, the Legal Aid commission finds it difficult to provide enough resources to its staff for the day-to-day administration of the Commission.

Understaffing and poor conditions of service are also problem the Commission currently faces. The Greater Accra Regional Office, which due to circumstances also serves as the headquarters of the commission currently has less than ten lawyers employed on fulltime basis. It therefore falls on the services of pupil and volunteer lawyers to meet the legal demands of its clients. As a results of the inadequate funding, the commission is also unable to provide in-service training and learning materials for these few legal professionals. The legal profession is one that demands regular refresher programs due to the dynamic nature of the field. As such many law firms furnish its offices with a variety of legally relevant books and documents to enable its staff update themselves of the current trends in the field. Sadly, the Legal Aid Commission does not give its legal staff opportunity to this necessity of the profession. This can be said to be one of the main reasons why services provided to its clients is considered as one of the poorest, as compared to the service of a paid law firm. This has also hindered the Commission’s ability to meet the needs of majority of the people who solicit for its services.

Another challenge the Commission faces is the poor publicity of its functions and to an extent, its whole existence as a state institution. Many Ghanaians, especially the poor and vulnerable for whom the commission was established, do not even know of the entire existence of such a commission. As a result, perversion of justice due to inability to afford legal representation is a common thing in this country. Many who are aware of the existence of the Commission also do not have any trust that it will meet their needs because of the bureaucratic processes one has to go through before accessing its legal services. They therefore redraw along the line before their cases would be handled.

PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
All the problems listed above boils down to funding which was earlier discussed. The government through the Ministry of Finance must ensure that sufficient funds are allocated to the Commission. the problem with staffing should also be handled with all the needed attention. current staff should be given good renumeration and quality conditions of service to entice others in the profession. Some of the legal pupils and interns should be made permanent fulltime lawyers to enable the commission to meet the growing demands of the Ghanaian population. The Commission should also partner with state owned media houses across the country to publicize itself enough to Ghanaian population, the rural areas to be precise.

The Legal Aid Commission is an important institution in Ghana’s Democracy. As Albert Venn Dicey propounded, one of the guiding principles of rule of law is legal representation for all, regardless of social status, sex, age or class. It is therefore binding on all States who seek to consolidate the principles of Rule of Law and Democracy to put measures in place that will enable all to have equal representation as far as justice is concerned. .

Written by Boateng Emmanuel
Political Science student
University of Education, Winneba.

Disclaimer: "The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect ModernGhana official position. ModernGhana will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements in the contributions or columns here." Follow our WhatsApp channel for meaningful stories picked for your day.

Comments

Dennis Wellings | 1/18/2025 1:37:40 AM

This is enlightening. Keep it up.

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