Day 17 - the Human Rights Advocacy Centre, the Court of Appeal, and the Greater Accra Bar Association

Back in Accra, Wednesday began with a visit to the Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC).  This organisation provides free legal advice and representation to those who can’t afford a lawyer.  As with the other organisations I have visited, many of the complaints it receives are settled by mediation, conducted by lawyers at the centre.   HRAC also conducts research into different issues: currently, it is looking at female prisoners, abortion, and mental health issues.  What I liked about this organisation, in contrast to some of the other places I have visited, was its self-consciously political approach.  This is demonstrated by, for example, the portraits of inspirational black women (from Sojourner Truth to Condoleeza Rice) that decorate the walls on the way in and by the polemical news articles by HRAC members that are pinned to the noticeboard. 

I next went to the Court of Appeal.  I realised the other day that I had visited the District, Circuit, High, and Supreme Courts but not the Court of Appeal, which seemed something of a glaring omission.  I listened to several applications, including motions for a stay of execution, leave to amend, and an injunction. 

Again, however, I was struck by the administrative problems and delay Ghanaian courts seem to experience at every level.  In the application for an injunction, the judges were unable to decide the application because the necessary documentation was not on their docket.  The time of the twelve or so parties who were involved in the case and who were all attendance was wasted – not to mention that of the court.  Similarly, in another case, the application had been filed without the relevant papers: the fifteen or so individuals who were concerned again all trooped out, with nothing having been achieved.  

I then went to the High Court to attend the end-of-year meeting of the Greater Accra Bar Association.  This was – I am pleased to report - a livelier affair than I expected.  Many of the problems with administration and delay which I have commented on were raised.  I had had the privilege, the day before, of getting a judicial opinion on the matter: now I was able to get the viewpoint of counsel.  The bar blamed the bench and the bench the bar, but everyone, it seemed, blamed the bailiffs – the people responsible for serving documents.  At the end of the meeting I was introduced to the President of the Greater Accra Bar Association, Frank Davies. 

I spent the rest of the day in the office of Sam Okudzeto & Associates, working on a case concerning a dissatisfied customer of an airline.  It was good to get stuck into some legal research and I was pleased to be able to make use of my (still extant) Westlaw login – worth every penny of the BPTC fees...