The Center for Public Interest Law has developed guidelines to help individuals who cannot afford the services of a lawyer to represent themselves in court without any fear or intimidation.
The guidelines will empower individuals to represent themselves at the Ghana Magistrate, Circuit and High Courts as well as the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
The Executive Director of the Center, Augustine Niber explained to Citi News that the guidelines were developed especially for the poor and marginalized in the society.
According to him, the center over the past 15 years has been providing free legal services to many communities around the country to support persons with genuine cases who could not afford the services of a lawyer.
This situation, he said, forced such individuals to abandon their cases.
Mr. Niber noted that although they were assisting people, the center does not have enough personnel to take on the many cases which they come across.
He added that through their travels, they also encountered people who “if they understood how to go to court, they would have done that on their own.”
These factors are what informed the center’s decision to develop the guidelines.
“Justice is really not going down to the people who need it,” he complained, adding that “there should be another way of getting people to access the courts.”
Mr. Niber also pointed out that some persons who even have legal representation have little knowledge about court processes therefore, “a person who is informed about the process will follow through and sometimes, even given very useful information that the lawyer may need.”
He was optimistic that the guidelines will enable deprived Ghanaians to seek justice “and they will achieve the desired impact that they seek.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @osamidan