COLLECTION OF EssAYs RECUEIL D' ARTICLES - Naciones Unidas

exerts a major influence on the views and policies of the Government of
Ghana concerning matters of international law. The legal adviser also
plays a significant role with respect to a broad range of domestic law
issues involving the international dealings of Ghana and its citizens.
The legal adviser furnishes legal advice to the Minister for
Foreign Affairs, the Foreign Ministry generally and diplomatic and
consular posts abroad with respect to all legal problems which arise in
the course of their work, whether they involve issues of domestic law or
international law. The legal adviser's work, therefore, generally
corresponds to that of the general counsel of other agencies of the
executive branch. Since the Foreign Ministry has primary responsibility
for carrying out the foreign policy and conducting the international
relations of Ghana, the bulk of the legal adviser's work and the work of
the bureau which he or she heads relates in some way to international
matters, including the increasingly important field of the law of
international organizations.
The legal adviser's first responsibility is to tell the Minister and
the entire administration candidly and objectively what the law is and
what it requires in any given situation. Every lawyer owes this duty to
his or her client. In this regard, it must be noted that, unless the Minister
and other policy officials are given competent, objective and honest
advice as to the legal consequences of proposed actions and decisions,
they cannot make informed and intelligent foreign policy judgements or
properly balance the national interests involved. Indeed, the success of
a decision or policy may depend on its compliance with international
law. The legal adviser should, and often does, provide an objective legal
analysis together with concrete suggestions as to how particular policy
objectives can be achieved in a manner which is consistent with
international law and with Ghana's obligations and interests.
Traditionally, the Legal Bureau of the Foreign Ministry has
been headed by a foreign service officer with a background in law, the
rank of Al Officer and the status of Director. Currently, the Bureau is
headed by the present writer, who is an attorney from the Attorney-
General's Department and the Ministry of Justice and whose rank in the
Attorney-General's Department is that of a Director of the International
Legal Division of that Department. He is on the payroll of the Attorney-
General's Department, but is on loan to the Foreign Ministry and so is
concurrently the Director of the Legal and Consular Bureau of the
Foreign Ministry as well as Director of the International Legal Division
of the Justice Ministry. This is undeniably a heavy responsibility, as