Ese Malemi

Law and the judiciary or the legal system is an effective means of protecting legal rights and also for guarding against political, economic and social injustice.1 However, an individual may be hampered from seeking redress in court by various factors, such as structural,2 legal,3 or administrative impediments.4 But the commonest problem, however, is lack of funds to prosecute a legal claim, or make a defense. Justice, human rights and redress are fanciful talks to a poor population that is struggling for daily bread. This is where a free public legal aid scheme run by government is a social necessity to afford opportunity to indigent persons to get justice, for without justice, there can be no peace in society and society needs peace to develop. The need for access to justice for everyone cannot be over emphasized. The International Commission of Jurists at its New Delhi Conference in 1959 put it thus:

Equal access to law for the rich and the poor alike is essential to the maintenance of the Rule of Law. It is therefore essential to provide adequate legal advise and representation to all those threatened as to their life, liberty, property or reputation who are not able to pay for it

Without legal representation a party cannot properly present his case. In the words of Lord Denning MR: 

The truth is best discovered by powerful statements on both sides.