The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has stated that the collective effort of public legal practitioners will make Ghana a place where the rule of law is not just spoken but also lived.
He said the role of the public legal service had expanded dramatically in the Fourth Republic and, therefore, a well-trained and well-resourced public legal team could protect the assets of the nation, advance the rights of ordinary Ghanaians, and ensure that the governance of the country operated within the bounds of justice.
Addressing the maiden conference for public legal practitioners in Accra yesterday, President Akufo-Addo emphasised that progress has been made in various areas, including employment and service provision.
He noted that since 2017, the government has made significant strides in strengthening the service.
According to the President, the government has recruited 119 state attorneys, including 70 others whose appointments will soon be formalized, and this recruitment represents almost half of the lawyers currently in the Office of the Attorney General.
He said it is important that lawyers serving within the public sector have the resources to deliver their responsibilities.
He added that their work demands courage, commitment, integrity, as well as excellence.
President Akufo Addo therefore stressed the commitment of the government to support the development of public sector lawyers while ensuring that their legal teams were well prepared to face the challenges of the time.
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, who was present at the program, stated the amount of money Ghana would have lost if some international arbitration cases had been ruled against the state. Highlighting the importance of legal defense in protecting the economy, he added that paying that amount of money would have collapsed the state.