Legal Aid Commission suffers from a lack of lawyers, cases are piling up – report

The shortage of public defenders poses major challenges to the Legal Aid Commission and affects its ability to handle the large number of criminal cases.

Currently, there are only 34 lawyers practising as public defenders in the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western and Western North regions and only 12 of them specialise in criminal cases. As a result, legal aid is not available in some regions.

According to a report by graphic.com.gh, the Public Defenders Division, one of the three functional departments of the Legal Aid Commission, was able to resolve only 323 of the 1,518 criminal cases received by it between January 2023 and July 2024.

It goes on to say that this situation puts enormous pressure on the few lawyers who have to cover several border regions.

Currently, only two lawyers are responsible for the three regions in the north, one of whom will retire in 2024, the report added.

The Commission was established to provide quality legal advice to the poor and vulnerable in society and to bring justice to people’s doorsteps.

It also aims to improve the provision of legal aid, improve access to justice for all, extend legal aid services to all districts and promote accessibility and efficiency in the administration of justice.

JKB/AE

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