Godfred Yeboah Dame
PRESIDENT NANA Akufo-Addo will tomorrow commission two funds – the Legal Aid Fund and the Legal Reform Fund, to cater for the operational needs of the Legal Aid Commission and the Law Reform Commission.
The Legal Aid Commission and the Law Reform Commission are two very important institutions responsible for the provision of legal services to the indigent in society, and the reform of Ghana’s law to bring them in line with modern trends respectively.
However, the operations of the two institutions have been hampered by a severe lack of funds, even though the respective Acts under which these institutions were established provide for a Fund to be set up for them, yet they have been operating for many years.
The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, is delighted that at last a fund is being established by government to
boost the operations of these two important institutions.
Mr. Dame, in March, this year, pledged to work with the new board of the Legal Aid Commission to ensure the immediate establishment of the Legal Aid Fund (LAF) to support indigent persons in the society.
He indicated at the time that government intended to contribute significant amount of money as the seed money for the fund, and therefore, urged the new board to present innovative means of ensuring that sufficient contributions, donations, and grants are made to the fund for the smooth discharge of the objectives of the Commission.
“In my respectful view, the way to go with the Legal Aid Commission ultimately is by undertaking what Section 31 of Act 977 has prescribed for it, the setting up of the Legal Aid Fund. Section 32 provides that the object of the fund is to ensure the financial capacity of the Commission to efficiently and effectively carry out its mandate under Act 977,” he stated.
He was speaking at the swearing-in of the members of the Governing Board of the Legal Aid Commission in Accra.
The launch, which will be done at the Law Court Complex in Accra, will be attended by various stakeholders in the legal fraternity.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak