One lawyer serving entire Upper West Region as Legal Aid Commission struggles with staff shortage

The Legal Aid Commission has disclosed that a single lawyer is responsible for handling both criminal and civil cases across the entire Upper West Region, highlighting the staffing difficulties affecting the delivery of legal aid services in Ghana.

The Commission currently has approximately 44 lawyers out of a total workforce of 186 employees, a situation that has made it difficult to expand its operations to communities where legal assistance is most needed.

Executive Director of the Commission, Edmund Amarkwei Foley, made the disclosure during an appearance on Channel One TV, where he discussed the institution's operational challenges and efforts to improve access to justice.

According to him, the Commission has deliberately slowed down the establishment of additional offices because it lacks sufficient personnel to manage them.

He explained that opening offices without the required staff would undermine their ability to function effectively.

Majority of districts without Legal Aid offices

Despite its responsibility to facilitate access to legal services nationwide, the Commission currently maintains offices in only 45 of Ghana's 261 districts.

This leaves 216 districts without dedicated Legal Aid Commission offices, while its regional presence covers just 10 of the country's 16 regions.

Mr Foley explained that establishing a functional district office requires a minimum of five personnel, comprising two lawyers, two mediators and an administrator.

With only about 44 lawyers currently employed by the Commission, meeting this requirement across the country remains a major challenge.

The situation is particularly difficult in the Upper West Region, where one staff lawyer handles the Commission's criminal and civil matters.

Staff departures worsen situation

The Executive Director attributed the Commission's limited workforce partly to vacancies created by resignations, retirements and the deaths of employees.

He indicated that the loss of personnel over time had placed additional pressure on the available staff and restricted management's ability to establish offices in other districts.

"We have been, as management of the commission, we have been careful not to open new offices because of our staffing constraints," he explained.

The Commission consequently relies on volunteer lawyers to supplement the work of its permanent legal personnel and assist individuals who cannot afford private legal representation.

Mobile legal clinics under consideration

As part of efforts to overcome its limited geographical coverage, the Commission is considering the introduction of mobile legal aid clinics to serve communities without permanent offices.

The proposed initiative would enable legal aid services to reach residents in underserved areas without requiring the immediate establishment of fully staffed district offices.

The arrangement could also provide an alternative means of extending legal assistance to vulnerable individuals while the Commission works to address its staffing challenges.

For now, however, the shortage of lawyers and other essential personnel remains a significant obstacle to the Commission's efforts to make legal aid services more widely accessible across the country.