The Western Regional office of the Legal Aid Commission has only five lawyers to serve the entire region.
The commission has therefore, indicated that it would need more lawyers to effectively and efficiently provide legal services to applicants who access justice under the Legal Aid Scheme.
According to the commission, it is poised to help serve the needs of the public, particularly, those who cannot afford legal representation in court.
Philip Asamoah, who is in charge of Human Resource at the regional office of the commission, revealed this at a community durbar at Abuesi in the Shama District on legal aid as part of the 2021 Legal Aid Week.
It was a USAID Justice Sector Support Activity and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative in collaboration with the Legal Aid Commission.
Mr. Asamoah explained that the Legal Aid Scheme is a state agency with the mandate to help administer justice to the poor and vulnerable in the country.
He stressed the importance of the Legal Aid Scheme in the country’s justice delivery system, adding “At Legal Aid we believe that justice is for everyone.”
“When we talk of Legal Aid, we are talking about people who have no means to procure legal services and we facilitate the procurement of legal services by all applicants,” he underscored.
Esther Ahulu, Programmes Manager, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, African Office, said that Legal Aid has offices all over the regions but they lacked resources to work effectively.
She told residents in the fishing community that the Legal Aid has a team of lawyers who could prepare their cases, file and represent them in court with the aim of seeking justice for them.
The District Chief Executive for Shama, Ebenezer Dadzie, encouraged the residents not to take the law into their own hands but go to Legal Aid when the need arises for free services.
He promised to provide an office for the Legal Aid Commission to operate from the district.
