Day 5 - Legal Aid Board

On Monday I went to the Legal Aid Board.  Legal aid is an entirely different creature here from legal aid in the UK.  In the UK it is, broadly speaking, a system of funding cases whereby the legal fees and expenses of those who cannot afford to pay for it themselves are paid for by the government.  Any lawyer can undertake legal aid work and be paid for it by the state via the Legal Services Commission.  In Ghana, the Legal Aid Board (LAB) appears to be more like a small charity or NGO: rather than simply funding cases, the LAB actually conducts them, and furthermore a major part of its work is providing mediation services.  Legal representation is only provided to those earning less than 500 cedis (approximately £160) per month, but mediation is free to all.  Unlike in the UK, legal aid is not restricted to certain areas of law and the LAB handles cases ranging from crime to insurance to intestacy.  Indeed, some of the cases taken on would hardly be recognised as “legal”: for example, one woman’s complaint was that her husband had lost interest in their marriage.

As stated above, mediation is a large part of the LAB’s work.  Every case that comes to them is mediated by in-house mediators, unless it is already in front of the courts or is eminently unsuitable for mediation.  I witnessed two mediations, both conducted by the same mediator.  The first was extremely successful, with a mutually acceptable resolution being reached within about half an hour.  The second was more tempestuous and, after more than an hour of heated exchanges, was adjourned to allow tempers to cool. 

Almost a fifth (18%) of all cases are settled at the mediation stage with only slightly more (22%) going on to receive legal advice and representation.  What is surprising is that more than a quarter of cases (28%) are closed due to a lack of response from the applicant after the initial enquiry.  This brings me back to my last blog post: it seems to suggest that, even amongst those savvy enough to get legal assistance, demand for free legal help is still relatively low.