The Ghana Legal Aid Commission says it may not be able to render its required services to the commercial driver and mate who are alleged to have assaulted a police officer in uniform.
According to the Commission’s Executive Director, Alhassan Yahaya Seini, his outfit lacks the needed resource to embark on such a defence.
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“Depending on how serious and essential the cases are, Legal Aid may represent a suspect and even though an assault on a policeman is serious, it is not to the extent where we have to utilize our resources. We have just 22 lawyers which are woefully inadequate to provide the required services,” he told Joy News in an interview.
A commercial bus driver and his mate were have been spotted in a viral video allegedly assaulting a police officer.
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The two were subsequently arraigned before court on Monday without legal representation but set to reappear on April 1, 2019.
They were slapped with four counts of assaulting a police officer and causing road obstruction.
The remand of the duo has prompted the Executive Secretary of Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, pledge his outfit’s support to them.
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The Legal Aid Commission which has a mandate of protecting the poor in such circumstances has shirked its responsibility.
Mr Seini added the Commission is struggling to provide legal support to the poor and needy due to the insufficient lawyers and funds.
“I want to use this opportunity to call on private philanthropists to partner them to revive the commission which is at the verge of collapsing,” he added.
Source: Adomonline.com/Gertrude Otchere
