Lack of Lawyers to defend suspects standing trial for very serious offences in the Upper West Region took centre stage at the launch of this year's constitutional week celebration at Wa. Mr. Justice Chiri Adamah, the Supervising High Court Judge at Wa who raised the issue, said there were only four lawyers in the region and out of the number only one was a legal practitioner.

As a result, twelve murder cases had been hanging for years due to the inability of the Legal Aid Board to get lawyers to defend the suspects involved. He said legal practitioners from Tamale and Bolgatanga refused requests by the Board to take up cases in the region due to meagre fees paid and the bad nature of the roads.

Mr. Justice Adamah said lawyers from the Wa office of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) who could conveniently take up that responsibility in addition to their duties, have not been permitted to do so by their employers. He called on the people to impress upon their Members of Parliament to get the Legal Aid Board to give the region special attention.

Mr. Justice Adamah said the Board was required by law to provide legal services to suspects who could not afford to pay such services. Some of the participants who spoke to the Ghana News Agency said a large number of lawyers in the country hail from the region but they were unwilling to practice in the area because the people were poor and could not pay their legal fees.