Madam
Afua Yankson, Western Regional Deputy Chief Investigator of the Commission on
Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has expressed concern about the
lack of office space, especially for one-on-one engagements with clients.
She further indicated that inadequate funding to
deliver its mandate on public sensitisation
and limited means of transport to carry out investigations, coupled with the distance barrier to reach clients for
follow-ups and investigations also continue to hamper their operations.
Madam Yankson who expressed the sentiments in an
interview with the Ghana News Agency in Takoradi, noted that the challenges
confronting the commission pose a great disservice to the commission in its
operations.
She in this regard appealed to the government to
provide logistics and increase funding for the region to administer its mandate
more effectively and efficiently.
According to her, human rights violation cases
such as children rights cases, property rights, women rights, economic and
social rights, civil and political rights are the predominant cases that are
brought before the Commission.
She explained that the commission was
established under the 1992 Constitution of Ghana by the CHRAJ Act, 1993 (Act
456) with a three (3) broad mandates of human rights, administrative justice
and anti-corruption.
She said CHRAJ was the National Human Rights
Institution of Ghana, the ombudsman of Ghana, and an Anti-Corruption Agency
& Ethics Office for the Public Service of Ghana.
Madam Yankson hinted that the Commission last
year recorded more human rights violation cases against the previous year and
that no case on administrative justice and corruption was recorded.
The Deputy Chief Investigator mentioned the loss
of interest to pursue cases by complainants, lack of accurate address to trace
perpetrators and inaccurate contacts to reach both complainants and
perpetrators for follow-ups as some challenges they also face in handling
cases.
She urged the public to embrace education on human rights to reduce violation against others and corruption so as to improve upon the quality of life.
GNA