The President of the Ghana Bar Association Yaw Acheampong Boafo has been making a strong case for the discontinuation of the practice of using police prosecutors at lower courts.
Mr. Boafo while speaking at the commissioning of the project, noted with concern reports of cases been thrown out against the state based on challenge by police prosecutors to follow rules of evidence appropriately.
He underscored the urgency for establishing a Greater Accra Regional Office and other district offices of the attorney general to alleviate the burden on police officers who often handle prosecutions at lower courts.
“I am aware there has been an increasing number of lawyers who apply to be employed at the Office of the Attorney General. The time has come for the establishment of a Greater Accra Regional Office and district offices of the attorney general.
“There can be no valid reason for the continual practice of the police officers conducting prosecution mainly at the lower courts.
“Reasonable evidence abounds of the many instances in which charges have been struck out and the accused person discharged or acquitted at our court either for the tardiness or the lack of the knowledge of procedural and evidential rule on the part of some police prosecutors.
“The safe impression would have been that things would have panned out differently and outcomes more positively if those prosecutions were handled by trained state attorneys from the office of the Attorney General.
“The GBA accordingly appeals for the employment of many more lawyers to the regions and districts to improve efficiency in state prosecution across the country,” he stated.
