Legal Aid Board comes into effect

Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Minister of Justice, on Thursday inaugurated the Legal Aid Board, with a call on members to help establish an efficient, attractive and skilful legal service that would be well motivated to assist the Attorney-General's office to deliver its mandate.

He also urged them to help bring sanity into the chaotic and most times indiscipline social set up. "Above all it is hoped that you will have helped in putting the rule of law at the apex of our social life."

The eight-member Board, which is required to advise the President on matters connected with the structure and conduct of the affairs of the service, has Nana Akufo-Addo as Chairman. The others are Ms Gloria Akuffo, Deputy Attorney-General and two government appointees - Mr William Boafo and Mrs Dorcas Coker-Appiah.

The rest are Mr Jones Dotse, representing the Ghana Bar Association, Mr Mike Gabah, Acting Secretary to the Public Services Commission, Mr Emmanuel Akwei Addo, Solicitor-General and Mr Justice Williams Atugubah, a Supreme Court Judge, representing the Judicial Service. The Board has Mr Cornelius Stephen Sackey as its secretary.

Nana Akufo-Addo urged the Board to take appropriate measures to fully implement the provision in the Legal Service Law that required all legal officers for employment in public services to be interviewed by the Board before their appointment.

"We have a situation where most public services have employed legal officers with better service conditions, yet when they are faced with any legal suits, these public services seek refuge in this service.

"All these are happening in an environment of increasing indiscipline, when laws are not enforced, when armed robberies are prevalent and when brutal murder of spouses have become the norm." Nana Akufo-Addo called on the Board to devise attractive conditions of service to enhance recruitment and appointments to meet the challenges of the times.

The Attorney-General said in these times of modernisation the onus would be on the Board to provide information technology facilities for the service to enable it to have easy access to information on the worldwide web.

He asked them to establish a public complaint and enforcement unit to help the A-Gs department to monitor the enforcement of laws generally and the exercise of the prosecution powers delegated to the various agencies.