Do away with wigs, gowns in court — CEPIL
By:
Edmund Smith-Asante & Yaa Ntiriwaa Adjei
Wigs and
gowns worn by lawyers and judges in court prevent many people from using
the courts to seek redress because they are intimidating, the Executive
Director of the Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL), Mr Augustine Niber, has
said.
“I am
fully aware of the importance of the wig and the gown to the legal profession
in Ghana, but I believe that if we are able to do away with the wearing of the
wig and the gown in our courts, we will be taking away a greater part of the
intimidation and fear that often characterise our courtrooms,” he said.
Mr Niber
was speaking at the launch of three booklets that provided simplified
guidelines for accessing justice in the courts and at the Commission on Human
Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
The
launch was performed by the Associate Executive Director of Wacam, Mrs
Hannah Owusu-Koranteng. She lauded CEPIL’s effort in producing the guidelines
and said she was also intimidated the first time she appeared in court.
The three
booklets were produced by CEPIL, with financial support from Star-Ghana,
as part of a project titled: “Access to Justice for the Poor and Marginalised
in Society.”
Support
was also received from UKaid, USAID, the EU and Danish Development
Organisation (Danida).
Factors
hindering access to justice
According
to Mr Niber, apart from financial constraints which prevent most people from
hiring the services of a lawyer and paying of legal fees, the lack of awareness
of court processes and procedures barred many people from doing so.
He said
these had been made worse by the technical language and the intimidating
nature of the justice system.
“Justice
systems that are remote, unaffordable, slow, or incomprehensible to the
public effectively deny legal protection,” he pointed out.
Mr Niber
said CEPIL’s work with the marginalised in society showed that many of them
would be able to access justice on their own if the processes and
procedures at institutions were written in everyday English devoid of very
technical legal jargons.
Confirming
the lack of access to Ghana’s justice system, a Deputy Director at
CHRAJ, Mr Samuel A. Bosompem, said out of 12,000 cases that came before the
commission every year, about 80 per cent were resolved through alternative
dispute resolution (ADR).
He urged
all to be interested in human rights issues and not to think that such
issues did not concern them.
“Your
right to swing your arm stops where another’s nose begins,” he said.
Institutionalise
pro-bono cases
The Chairman
for the ceremony, Mr Gabriel Pwamang, a lawyer at CEPIL, recommended the
institutionalisation of free legal services for the marginalised and
poor, as a requirement for renewal of legal licences.
He said
such a step would enable the marginalised that did not have access to
justice to get the services of lawyers all the time.
Writer’s
email: Edmund.Asante@graphic.com.gh
& yayajblack@gmail.com
This was first published by the Daily Graphic on August 30, 2014
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