A private legal practitioner, lawyer Seth Agyepong Mensah says resourcing and strengthening institutions mandated to ensure social justice is the way to go for Ghana.
He says the issue of social justice could only be realized globally, and most especially in Ghana through access to portable water, good health, and decent jobs among others.
Speaking to ATL FM NEWS on the occasion of World Day for Social Justice, the private legal practitioner indicated that the issue of employment, access to good health and portable water, discrimination, and poverty among others are the major issues confronting and hindering Ghana’s attainment of social justice in the country.
Observed annually on February 20, World Social Justice Day has since November 2007 been commemorated to raise voice against social injustice and to remove barriers with regards to gender, race, inequality, religious discrimination, and others.
The theme for the 2023 celebration is Overcoming Barriers and Unleashing opportunities for social justice.
According to lawyer Seth Agyepong Mensah, the theme is timely as it will drum home the need for government to put in place measures to ensure recovery from the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We all know that the issue of access to good health, unemployment, and gender inequality are issues that confront us as a nation. And so this international day for social justice could help us to raise awareness and for the government to do its best to resolve some of these issues. But I think the government will have to do its best to create employment.”
“There are a lot of issues with our educational system that needs to be addressed. The issue with our health care delivery, which has to be improved; Access to potable water, we know that as we speak now in most villages, they don’t have potable water to drink. And so these are some of the issues that the government can critically look at them and address them.”
He further added that there should be access to easy funds for individual startup businesses, for those who want to go into farming adding that there should also be steps to eradicate poverty and illiteracy in Ghana.
To him, the country’s laws made provisions to address social justice issues and to protect the individual’s fundamental human rights.
“If you look at them critically, you see that it makes provisions for governments to follow. We have political objectives, we have economic objectives, and we have social objectives, educational objectives, and so on. And so if all these objectives that are provided in our constitution under the directive principle of state policy, if we can address them critically, I think the issue of social justice will be resolved” he said.
As such he said institutions that handle social justice issues should be resourced to enable them to work effectively.
“I think the institution we need to identify some of them. One, we can look at our police service, we need to equip them well, we need to look at our judicial system, we need to improve upon it. The delay for these things that are there discourage investors. If an investor comes and he has an issue and goes to court and he’s going to take a whole year too, that is very discouraging, so we need to improve on that” he emphasized.
The World day for Social Justice provides opportunity for fostering dialogue with member states, youths, social partners, civil society, UN Organisations, and other stakeholders on actions needed to strengthen the social contract that has been fractured by rising inequalities, conflicts, and weekend institutions that are meant to protect the right of workers.
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Source: Eric Sekyi/ATLFMNEWS
