Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says the move to allow private legal practitioners to prosecute cases in court is to help reduce delays in the courts.
He said the backlog of cases kept on mounting and the Attorney-General’s office needed to employ about 97 attorneys to cope up with the job and it would take about two years to go through Civil Service procedures to engage such a number.
Nana Akufo-Addo, told the Ghana News Agency that the use of private lawyers to prosecute cases was not new and that it was the practice in the colonial days and early days of the nation's independence.
He said, the Attorney - General's office is working out the remuneration for those to be engaged, adding that it would be based on the number of cases handled.
This would drastically reduce delays in handling cases and give meaning to the Constitutional demand for quick trials.
Nana Akufo-Addo said it should be possible for Ghana to practice what pertained in England that unless there was a natural disaster a judge could not adjourn any case if the prosecution was ready to start or continue with it.
This has brought about a minimal delay in trials in that country, he said. "We are introducing this measure because we have to begin from somewhere and as we go along we should be solving the problems that come along with it. We cannot get anywhere if we don't introduce reforms."
On why there was shortage of lawyers in the country and yet the universities were doing law as a second degree whereas those in the system did it as a first degree? Nana Akufo-Addo said, "that is the problem of doing things in this country. "What the left hand is doing is always unknown to the right hand. There should be linkages in institutional planning to ensure that training and market demands are brought into equilibrium."
The A-G said an institution in its planning might be concerned about achieving a certain standards and sometimes become unmindful of national requirements.
Chief Justice Mr. Edward. Kwame Wiredu supported the Attorney - General's stand, saying, the use of private legal practitioners in the prosecution of cases was not new to the country.
He said in view of shortage of staff the Attorney -General's Office was facing, the policy would help the Judiciary to give quick trials.
