By Eric Delanyo Alifo | Executive Director
During the period in review, there was so much work to do in the prisons and in the courts. Since there was little or no funding at all to support most of our work during the period, the organization's part-time and temporary attorneys have taken a break and the only lawyer left is the Founder to take care of all the matters that require the attention of Counsel. The Founder joined a small group of lawyers to visit 5 of the nation's overcrowded prisons to represent a total of more than 300 inmates, mainly, remand prisoners, who had been languishing in the prisons for three years or more without trial. Many of them were granted bail, and others were discharged unconditionally.
In the courts, the Founder was overwhelmed by various proceedings including juvenal matters, matrimonial cases, domestic disputes, bail applications, and various types of trials. The pressure in the courts during this period in particular resulted from three main factors namely: 1. Increased demand for our services occasioned by our expansive activities in public education in the media such as TV and radio; 2. Less number of lawyers when cases have increased; and 3. The closeness to legal vacation, which means the courts were generally working very hard to clear most of their case. The legal vacation begins in the first week of August in every year.
During the period in review, HelpLaw Ghana also teamed up with a religious organization, that was touring some of the nation's prisons to provide various services, including evangelism, medical services, and counselling to inmates. Our organization sent two interns to tour the prisons with this religious group to identify peculiar legal problems that may require our attention. Through this process, we are presently examining seven cases for our possible intervention.
The vision of HelpLaw Ghana to see a criminal justice system in Ghana where nobody shall be arrested, detained, and prosecuted without being represented by counsel mainly because of poverty is still on and we are steadily and working towards it and not relenting even in the face of serious challenges in the area of funding. We continue to be grateful to our benefactors through the Globalgiving platform and others, and we are hopeful that since ours is a noble cause, it shall not fail but thrive and bring justice to everyone including the poor.
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