By
Albert Futukpor, GNA
Tamale, June 23, GNA – Law and Development
Associates (LADA) and Atuguba and Associates (A&A), consulting and law
firm, have opened an office in Tamale to provide legal and consultancy
services in the Northern, Upper East and
Upper West Regions.
The office, beside undertaking litigation for
clients, will also engage in legal reforms, capacity building, advocacy and
research.
Mr Mark Ofori-Amanfo, Managing Director of
LADA, who spoke during the opening of the office in Tamale, said the firm would
increase beyond 10 per cent the number of cases it handled as legal aid to
assist the vulnerable to seek justice.
LADA has been in operation in the country
since 2006 and it provides unique services in the area of research,
consultative strategies, training, legislative reform, facilitation of
regulatory processes and advocacy, as well as legal counseling and
representation for mostly pro bono clients.
Professor Raymond Atuguba, Managing Partner at
A&A, said the opening of the office was also “to assist with new ideas,
forging a link between law and development for establishing, articulating and
operationalizing the ways in which law can be used to promote development in
the three regions.”
Professor Atuguba, who is also Senior Lecturer
at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, said “At LADA, we do not focus on
what law seeks to prevent but rather what law should promote.”
He expressed hope that “as LADA moves next
year into mastering technology so that law may be used to liberate people, we
envisage a day, very near in the future, when persons in Accra, will seek legal
advice from astute, well-groomed lawyers and development practitioners in
Tamale.”
He expressed unhappiness that the country’s
laws were not translated into local languages saying translating the laws into
local languages would promote and develop pride in the indigenous languages.
Kumbunnaa Yiri (II), Naa Alhaji Iddrisu Abu,
Paramount Chief of Kumbungu Traditional Area, spoke about the operations of the
firm in the areas of governance, human rights and public policy commending it
for contributing to the development of a number of constitutions, policies,
laws, and regulations on the continent.
He said the opening of the Tamale office was
welcome news as it would not only lead to improvement in quality but quantity
of legal services and justice delivery in the northern part of the country.
GNA