An Assistant Legal Aid Officer, Sani Mamoud has indicated that many accused persons are serving remand sentences for wrong charges because there are insufficient prosecutors at the Attorney General’s office to investigate criminal cases.
He argued that most of the investigations conducted by the police are incomplete leading to the wrongful imprisonments of accused.
Speaking on Peace FM’s ‘Asomdwee Kwanso’ with Nana Yaa Konadu, Mr. Mamoud said Ghana is one of the few countries where the police effects arrest, investigate cases and go ahead to lead prosecutions which in his opinion is inappropriate because investigations may be compromised.
The discussion, which falls under the USAID Justice Sector Support Activity’s (JSSA) Justice Watch Radio Series, was aimed at increasing public education and knowledge on the need for more Legal Aid services and the need for the passage of the Non-Custodial Sentencing bill into law.
He said it is imperative that the AG’s office is resourced to recruit more lawyers to prosecute cases professionally instead of the police acting in their stead.
“The mandate of the police is to fight crime so anything they will do to show us that they are fighting crime they will do it. The police will arrest a suspect, investigate him and prosecute same. This is the more reason why when cases get to the high court, the accused is acquitted and discharged because the investigations were not properly done,” he said.
Contributing to the programme, a Rule of Law Specialist on the JSSA, Enoch Jengre appealed to the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) to formulate a legislation that will compel new lawyers to offer legal aid as they begin their profession.
“There are many lawyers who have just completed their studies and are not engaged in any services. We will plead with the GBA to get them to offer legal aid services. Lawyers should also volunteer to offer discounted or free legal services to poor individuals,” he appealed.
He also called on the general public to support the advocacy for the passage of the Community Sentencing bill into law to help decongest the prisons.
USAID Justice Sector Support Activity
The USAID Justice Sector Support Activity (JSSA) aims at increasing citizen knowledge and access to Justice Sector services, strengthening advocacy interventions for accountability of key Justice Sector Institutions to improve justice delivery, and increasing citizens’ oversight and monitoring of criminal cases to enhance justice delivery.
