According to Joseph Whittal, the Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice, the Commission is cash-strapped and unable to function as it should.
On JoyNews' PM Express, he noted that the CHRAJ has been chronically underfunded, resulting in debt payment delays that have hampered the Commission's smooth operation.
Despite a budget allocation of 45 million cedis, just 2 million cedis for operations and 9 million cedis for wages and compensation had been issued, he said.
"And as of today, when I examine the data, we don't have up to 2 million in products and services for the year." We have a pitiful budget for Capex, which has yet to be announced.
So that's where we're at right now," he explained.
"We've delivered the money to the regions so they can function while we wait for the third quarter, which may bring something significant." Furthermore, because government is a continuous entity, we made some expenditures last year that were not met because the fourth quarter was not released, so we have creditors on our backs who want to be paid, and I believe we will have to pay them when the third quarter arrives. And the balance will be used to carry out the Commission's job," he continued.
Mr. Whittal said that the Commission's underfunding jeopardizes its capacity to properly and efficiently carry out its basic purpose of protecting society's most vulnerable citizens.
"We're meant to be the go-to institution for regular people who can't go to court to resolve disputes, to have human rights, to have an ombudsman, and to have anti-corruption." And so, if you do this to this institution, which was created by the framers of the constitution to help ordinary people who couldn't afford any other paid service, you're really hitting the vulnerable in the stomach, which is why we've been insisting that it doesn't take much to make this institution work," he said.
"It isn't difficult. If you look at the types of figures that go to certain institutions, certain ministries, and not that we don't know, we know the types of figures that go to certain institutions, certain ministries; service is not only about particular ministries and what they dole out; service is also about ordinary service to the ordinary person, and on top of that, we're dealing with fighting corruption, fighting conflict of interest, educating people, and creating prevention at the same time, so what are we doing if we don't resource these bodies?"
He stated that most of the Commission's work has been desk-bound in recent years due to a lack of resources to do the essential field work.
"Investigation entails venturing out. And going out into the field to gather evidence, interview people, acquire papers, and then return to the office to make a report. Nobody can go to the field if you don't spend in investigation up front, since going to the field costs money.
"It costs money to buy gasoline, put gas in a car, or ride a motorcycle to the field. If it doesn't happen, we fall back on the simple labor of being confined to a desk. And when the public demands that we have these cases, CHRAJ delays, it's not because of CHRAJ's responsibility."