Accra, Jan 27, GNA- Miss Gloria Akuffo, Deputy Attorney-General (A-G) on Tuesday underscored the need for a legal system, which could provide the support for a vigorous private enterprise economy. She said that system should be able to guarantee equal access to justice and treatment before the law for the citizenry, and to "ensure the supremacy of the rule of law and respect for human rights at the core of our body politic."

Miss Akuffo made the call when she opened a day's workshop to solicit views from stakeholders to be used as a basis for his office to facilitate the creation of an enabling legal environment for business. The workshop, organised by the Business Law Division (BLD) within the A-G's office, under the theme "creating an enabling legal environment in the golden age of business", was funded by the Danish Development Agency (DANIDA).

Miss Akuffo pointed out that 'we must promote a sane legal environment to allow the market to flourish."

"Our vision is to create a prosperous developed economy, founded on private property rights operating in a market economy, in which individual initiatives and enterprise are the main sources of wealth creation, and a society in which the state protects the vulnerable and the disadvantaged."

Clearly, she admitted, such a society needed a legal system which did not only resolve disputes quickly, fairly and cheaply, but one which could also frame the laws and regulations in clear and comprehensible language.

The Deputy Attorney-General charged the division to design a comprehensive programme for business law reform in the country. "It is expected that the division will identify deficiencies or gaps in the existing law in simple but clear and unambiguous language, updating the existing law or the introduction of new legislations as a means of guaranteeing a reliable and safe legal framework for the growth of business in Ghana."

Miss Akuffo called on the BLD to establish a database of comparative business laws and regulations from various jurisdictions to serve as a reference guide for business law reform and modernization. Mrs Naana Dontoh, Acting Director of BLD, was optimistic that the creation of the division would go a long way to help remove outmoded business laws from the statute books and replace them with new and simple ones.

She lauded the Danish Government through DANIDA for the financial support, and hoped it would continue to give BLD the necessary support to enable the division to achieve set goals.