The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Stephen Yakubu, has appealed to the Government to establish law training school in the Northern zone of the country to help address the legal service gaps in the area.
The Regional Minister who stated that currently there were only 14 licenced lawyers in the region serving a population of more than 1.3 million people, indicated that the situation was not different from the remaining four regions of the north where put together there are only 39 practicing lawyers in that area.
The Regional Minister made the call during the 2021-2022 Annual General Meeting of the Ghana Bar Association(GBA) held yesterday in Bolgatanga of the Upper East Region under the theme “ Ensuring an increase in revenue mobilisation through taxation for the purpose of accelerated national development : The role of the lawyer.”
“After 63 years of establishing the Ghana School of Law, it is about time that a campus is established in northern Ghana to produce more professionals in the legal field,” Mr Yakubu appealed.
The Regional Minister suggested that as a stepping gap, the GBA could consider rendering pro-bonus legal services to the people in the five regions of the north as many people in the area were poor.
He stated that the Regional Security Council and the respective Municipal and District Security Councils in the region had created an atmosphere of peace and stability for people to go about their businesses freely.
He commended Parliament for the passage of the Land Act 1036, of 2020 and indicated that it would help in addressing many land related challenges in the region which serves as a security threat.
The Chief Justice, Kwesi Anin Yeboa, impressed upon legal practitioners not to engage in acts that often lead to constant adjournment of court cases.
He also identified lack of effective communication between lawyers and their clients as one of the major challenges confronting the delivery of justice systems in the country and appealed to lawyers to explain each stage of the ruling processes to their clients and be truthful and transparent to them.
He also called on them to propose other alternative means of settling cases and mentioned the Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism as one of the best in terms of cost and accessibility.
The National President of the GBA, Mr Anthony Forson Junior, mentioned that about 1,300 members are participating in the conference with 600 present physically while the remaining 700 are participating virtually.
He stated that despite the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, his administration had chalked a lot of successes in the three year-tenure of office and mentioned the provision of Information Communication Technology logistics, the construction of wash rooms among others to the legal offices in some of the regions in the country.
From Samuel Akapule, Bolgatanga
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