Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame (left), the Attorney-General, handing over the keys of EOCO vehicles to Commissioner of Police Mrs Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, the Executive Director of EOCO

Attorney-General presents 91 vehicles to agencies

Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson Feb - 10 - 2022 , 07:35 2 minutes read

The Attorney-General (A-G) and Minister of Justice, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, has handed over 91 vehicles and one motorcycle to agencies under his ministry.

The beneficiary agencies are the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), the Registrar-General’s Department, the Council for Law

Reporting, the Law Reform Commission, the Copyright Office, the Legal Aid Commission and the Ghana School of Law.

Additionally, all regional offices of the Office of the A-G have also received their share of the vehicles, which include 39 saloon cars, 42 Toyota pick-ups, four Toyota Fortuners, three Toyota V8s, one 32-seater Toyota bus, two Toyota Mini buses and a motorcycle.

Present at the presentation ceremony in Accra yesterday were the two Deputy A-Gs, Mr Alfred Tuah-Yeboah and Ms Diana Asonaba Dapaah; the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mrs Yvonne Atakora Obuobisa; the Solicitor-General, Mrs Helen Akpene Awo Ziwu, and the Director of the Legislative Drafting Division, Mrs Mavis Amoa.

Challenges

Mr Dame said his office, together with the agencies, were bedeviled by many challenges, such as insufficient funding, lack of vehicles and poor infrastructure.

According to him, when he assumed office in 2021, he made a commitment to tackle the challenges as part of his vision of building a modern public legal service that would “live up to its onerous constitutional and statutory duties to the Republic of Ghana”.

He said the ministry subsequently got funding from the Ministry of Finance for the provision of office equipment.

Some of the vehicles presented to the agencies.

“Today’s presentation of 91 vehicles follows a special appeal I made to Cabinet in June last year, in consequence of which President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo directed the Finance Minister to ensure satisfaction of all the needs, for which we are profoundly grateful to the President and the minister,” he added.

Significance

Mr Dame said the provision of the vehicles would have a positive impact on the work of state attorneys and the various agencies, which would ultimately improve the justice delivery system in the country.

He, however, said there was more work to be done, and that “work on a 12-storey building to accommodate the A-G’s Office, which commenced about 20 years ago, is steadily progressing and on course to be completed by the end of this year”.

The minister further said that technology was an integral part of his vision of building a modern public legal service and, therefore, he had taken steps to secure the requisite funding for an integrated information management system for the ministry.

Writer’s email: emma.hawkson@graphic.com.gh