Sunday, September 7, 2008

BE AWARE OF BASIC RIGHTS, OBLIGATIONS

The Faculty of Law of the University of Ghana, Legon, has initiated a Basic Law Training Programme for anyone interested in the acquisition of basic knowledge in some essential aspects of the law necessary for daily use.
The programme, organised by the Centre for Human Rights and Public Affairs of the faculty, has been designed to equip participants with the knowledge of some fundamental branches of the law necessary for informed decision in their personal lives.
It is targeted at private individuals, business people, civil servants and senior citizens with no legal background.
The maiden programme will start on Monday, July 28 and end on August 8, 2008, at the faculty with about 50 participants, who will at the end of the two-week training programme receive a certificate of participation.
Some fundamental aspects of the law that will be treated under the programme are the Constitution and how it is interpreted, administrative remedies, human rights, rights and obligations of landlords and tenants, how to avoid entering into unfavourable contracts, rights and duties of employers and employees and how one can deal with nuisance from neighbours or negligence from government agencies.
The programme is in line with the faculty’s strategic plan of providing a common platform for translating its academic and legal excellence into the relevant basic knowledge for the benefit of the ordinary Ghanaian, the acting Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Kofi Quashigah, told the Daily Graphic in Accra last Wednesday.
He said under the strategic plan, the faculty through its Centre for Human Rights and Public Affairs, the Basic Law Training Programme and similar programmes that would be rolled out, was placing itself at the centre of relevance in the legal, political and governance issues that daily confronted Ghanaians in their efforts to democratise and develop.
“Admittedly, important constitutional and legal issues come up and as a faculty, we are expected to have an imprint in these issues,” he said.
He said the centre would, therefore, provide well-researched, comprehensive and easy-to-apply legal and constitutional papers on various issues of governance and public policy that would also take into account best practices in other jurisdictions.
“It is our hope to provide the basic legal knowledge for life and living to all Ghanaians to help us all in our endeavours,” he said.
Prof. Quashigah said the centre was also preparing to institute another programme that would target opinion leaders in communities to be trained as paralegals.
The basic legal training of opinion leaders in communities in matters such as family law and domestic violence, would make them able to provide the direction to their communities when such legal issues arose and enable them to also advise community members on proper actions to take instead of resorting to violence and disturbances, he added.
DAILY GRAPHIC, THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2008, PG 47

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