The notaries with Justice Rose Owusu and Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong in a group photo
TWENTY-THREE notaries public have been officially sworn into office with a call for them to understand the duties and responsibilities of notaries public and properly perform requested notaries acts.
The newly sworn-in notaries; qualified, and experienced practitioners trained in the drafting and execution of legal documents with more than ten years standing at the bar were charged to faithfully execute the duties of the office they have been called to.
Justice Rose Owusu, Justice of the Supreme Court, who administered the oath to the notaries, cautioned them against notarizing a signature of a person who has not appeared before them.
She said notaries play an important role in the prevention of fraud and protection of the parties involved by acting as officials and unbiased witnesses in respect of some documents and must therefore take inspiration and seek guidance on their duties by referring to available authorities from other common law-based jurisdiction.
?A notary must in other words exercise the skill and care that can reasonably be required for a notarial act. Failure to exercise due diligence, care and skill can lead to unpleasant consequences for the notary,? she said.
She was therefore hopeful that the newly sworn-in notaries would bring to bear on their work the experience they have gathered over the years in their capacities as lawyers and officers of the courts in Ghana.
Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, Attorney General and Minister for Justice, urged notaries to be of the highest personal, professional and ethical standards adding that the noble profession has come under a lot of unfavorable scrutiny because of the misdeeds of a few bad nuts whose unethical practices and lack of integrity and professional dealings have re-enforced existing prejudice about lawyers.
?We need to be living examples of the dignity of our noble and learned profession, whose origins are ecclesiastical and religious. Your importance to keeping these wheels of our society turning cannot be over emphasized,? she said.
She urged them not to see pecuniary gains as the over-riding aim of their new status but rather use to help make Ghana and its legal system the ultimate winners in this enviable attainment.
The newly sworn-in notaries are Joe Attipoe, Rev Father Joseph Adu-Owusu Agyeman, Joseph Simple To-Ir Siilo, Abla Masoperh, Nana Ama Boama-Dowuona, Dzidzorm Aurelius Marcus Awuku and Theophilus Codjoe.
Others include Akyaa Akua Afreh Arhin, Vincent Garr, Kwame Ntow-Fiako, Kwesi Anokye Gyimah, Natasha Maureen Donkor, Livingstone Antonio Dey, Sam Bannerman-Wood and Osei Yaw Osafo.
The rest are James A K Abban, Kwame Osei-Prempeh, Afoko Amoako, Yaw Adei Afritei Nketia, Alex Nernasko, Oladele Kweku Aribike, Helen Akpene Awo Ziwu and Slyvia Ama Adusu.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri
