Legal Aid Scheme for Brong Ahafo

The Legal Aid Scheme was established to protect and defend the rights of the poor and vulnerable against unfair treatment and abuse and also promote and sustain fair and equitable application of the law.

The scheme is committed to the provision of effective and efficient legal aid services for the enforcement of the Constitution, prosecution and defence of human rights of the poor and vulnerable.

At the Duayaw Nkwanta in the Brong Ahafo Region, an office of the scheme was inaugurated on Tuesday, to enable people in the area to access services under the scheme and also improve public knowledge about the operations of the scheme.

Addressing the ceremony, the Director of Legal Aid Ghana, Mr Yahaya Al-Hassan Seini, announced that a survey conducted under the auspices of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice in 2012, and funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), revealed that over 79 per cent of respondents had no knowledge of the Legal Aid Scheme or its operations.

According to him, the Duayaw Nkwanta Traditional Authority collaborated with the State to secure access to justice for their people and to enhance public knowledge about the scheme.

Role of the traditional authority

He said the traditional authority provided the premises for the office, and the State, represented by the Legal Aid Scheme, provided the personnel, while the UNDP provided funding for the refurbishment, furnishing and equipping of the office.

Mr Seini indicated that the opening of the Duayaw Nkwanta Legal Aid Office was in line with the Government of Ghana’s Medium-Term Development Policy Framework: Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda, 2010-2013, under which the government committed itself to enhance the rule of law and access to justice to, “effectively mainstream alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms, and broaden access of the poor to legal aid.’’

The UNDP

Gender Analyst of UNDP, Mrs Jennifer Asuako, said her outfit supported the Ghana Legal Aid Scheme to open 15 district offices across the country; five of which are in the Brong-Ahafo Region, including the one in Duayaw Nkwanta.

She said the UNDP recognised the key role the scheme played in providing access to justice to the poor and vulnerable, hence the support, adding that to make the district offices operational and to create awareness among the citizens in the various districts in which they were located, UNDP was supporting the Duayaw Nkwanta office to organise a durbar for the chiefs and people in eight new districts, during which there would be legal aid clinics.

Nana Serwaa Nyarko, the Queenmother of Duayaw Nkwanta Traditional Area, commended the Paramount Chief, Nana Boakye Tromo III, for freely releasing a building to be used as a permanent premises for the scheme.