Towards effective justice delivery: Revive legal aid, increase pro bono services to vulnerable

The life of a middle-aged commercial driver came to a standstill on Thursday, February 2, 2023 when the Magistrate Court in La convicted him on his own plea and threw him behind bars for six months on traffic offence charges.

 In that particular case, the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Paul Osei Adjei, alleged that the convict threatened to knock down a police officer on duty when he was stopped for driving through a red traffic light.

The convict, a first time offender and with no legal representation, pleaded guilty to the charges which were read to him in English.

When he was given an opportunity to plead for mitigation before the sentence was pronounced, the convict muttered, “Please, I am sorry” following which he was slapped with the six-month jail term. 

The compound and entrance to the commission get flooded when it rain 

Convict saved

Unlike this particular convict, whose fate was determined under 10 minutes,  Dauda Mohammed Nazir’s fate of possibly serving a minimum jail term of 10 years was saved on January 25, 2023.

Nazir had pleaded guilty to the count of engaging in violent activities at the National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Youth and Women’s Organisers elections held in Cape Coast when he first appeared at the Accra Circuit Court presided over by Samuel Bright Acquah on January 10, this year.

Nazir, who had been charged alongside two others, was the only accused person whose plea was taken on January 10 at the judge’s chambers because he supposedly agreed for his charges to be read in English while the plea of the other accused persons was postponed because they preferred their charges to be read in their local dialect instead of English.

A 10-storey law house facility for the Attorney General's office and its sister agencies including the LRC

At the time Nazir pleaded guilty to the vigilante charges, he had no legal representation.

It was only on January 25, 2023, a day set aside for judgement to be pronounced, that Nazir made an appearance in Court with a lawyer.

The lawyer, Beatrice Annangfio, who contested the sentencing of her client, argued that her client did not fully understand what it meant to plead guilty to the offence, adding that the court clerk, who is not a certified interpretor, did not communicate to the understanding of the accused whose native language is Hausa.

Lawyer for the accused, Ms Annangfio, further stated that her client was not given the right to be represented by a counsel when the case was first called.

She added that in a conference with the accused, the accused said when he was asked if he was guilty or not, he assumed he was being asked if he was present at the conference and that was why he replied yes.

“From our conference with our client, his understanding was that, he was being asked if he was at the conference, to which he answered in the affirmative, and not he being guilty to the offence.

He was also not given the right to a counsel by the prosecution and before the court, he was not represented.

We should be given the rights to fair hearing.

The duty of the prosecution is to administer justice and not to secure convictions.

I wish to say that you exercise magnanimity and retake his plea,” Ms Annangfio said.

Court erred

That compelled the Court to halt the sentencing of the accused person on the charges.

The presiding judge, in his response to the prayer, said it was clear on records that the court did not do enough to let the accused know his right, adding that the court should have found out if he wanted to go without counsel.

“The court erred and if the court erred, does it have the right to correct that? Yes.

Trial ends at sentencing not conviction.

Prosecution does not lose anything.

In this case, I will allow the plea of the convict to be retaken,” Mr Acquah said, saving Nazir from possibly serving a minimum of 10 years on the charges. 

Mr Martin Amoyaw, the Executive Director of the Legal Aid Commission

Fair Trial

Article 19 of the 1992 constitution guarantees an individual’s right to fair trial.

Under Article 19 (2)(d), the constitution gives a person charged with a criminal offence the opportunity to be informed immediately in a language that he understands, and in detail; of the nature of the offence charged.

This was not done in the case of these two persons, causing their chances of effectively defending themselves bleak.

Legal Aid

Article 2 of the Legal Aid Scheme Act, 1997 Act 542, gives everyone the prerogative to legal aid in a criminal/civil matter.

However, that has not been the case for many petty offenders or accused persons under the law, as the Legal Aid Commission is confronted with myriad of challenges.

Access to legal aid has become an inherent bottleneck for justice delivery in the country due to the limited number of lawyers available to the commission.  

A High Court judge made an appeal to lawyers who had come to the Court to represent their clients in a different matter to take up legal representation of an accused person in a criminal case but that was met with unwillingness and reluctance from the lawyers.

Access to legal services by the ordinary citizenry has received a boost, with the launch of two funds to enhance the justice delivery system.

                          The frontage of the Supreme Court

In August 2022, the government launched two funds to ensure access to justice.

The Legal Aid Fund was established to strengthen the financial capacity of the Legal Aid Commission (LAC) to discharge its duties effectively, while the Law Reform Fund was to help the Law Reform Commission (LRC) undertake development projects and regular law reforms.

However, that is not enough.

To conclude, actors in the justice sector must ensure that the scales of justice are evenly balanced between the state and an accused person who cannot clearly defend him/herself.

There is also the need for firms to rise to the occasion by making it a personal initiative to defend vagrants who come into conflict with the law but cannot afford legal services since the Legal Aid is incapacitated.

This would boost public confidence in the judiciary as well as send a strong message to Ghanaians and the business community. 

Writer’s E-mail: justice.agbenorsi@graphic.com.gh