Be champions of the law – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Wednesday, 20 March 2019, launched the e-Justice Project, the paperless court system which will enhance dramatically the nation’s efforts at improving its justice delivery system.

Speaking at the launch, President Akufo-Addo stated that the e-Justice Project is a recognition of the fact that every aspect of life is today ruled by technology.

“The Project is attempting to help ensure that the law keeps pace with technology, ending the age-old “missing dockets” phenomenon and endless litigations, which have plagued the efficient delivery of justice in the country for several years,” he added.

President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that since his assumption of office, a number of policy measures have been introduced to help bridge the technology-gap, in the justice delivery system.

Thus, it was that, in May 2018, Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia launched the e-case register. The register contains information such as titles of cases, types of offences, the gender of the accused persons, contact details of the police station, investigators and attorneys directly involved with a case, amongst others.

“When fully executed, information about the number of convicts, dates convicted, nature of offences, number of persons on remand or who are simply being processed for court, amongst others, will be shared with the relevant state institutions,” he said.

The President continued, “Through the e-Justice Project, an electronic platform is being provided for process filing, process service, fee assessments, and online payments. The platform, additionally, automatically assigns cases to courts and judges, a clear departure from the days of manual assignments, which had the tendency to pervert the course of justice.”

The paperless court system, President Akufo-Addo explained, “operates with minimal interference, and, if what we have seen so far with the paperless system in use at our ports is anything to go by, then we are guaranteed greater efficiency in our justice delivery system.”

He urged the Chief Justice not to relent in her quest to build a first-class Judiciary, whose hallmarks are competence, fairness, and independence.

“It is, indeed, encouraging to note that, in addition to the implementation of this project, training programmes are being held for members of the Bench and their staff. This will augur well for the success of the Project,” he added

The President was hopeful that all actors connected with the e-Justice system will strive for excellence, and demonstrate integrity in the use of the platform, so that anyone, judge, lawyer, or client, who uses the platform, will be confident that justice will always be delivered.

“As we seek to move our country to a situation beyond aid, I urge all Ghanaians to be natural champions of a law-based state, whose establishments are solid enough to sanction effectively vigilantism, bank frauds, cyber frauds, sharp practice, illegal mining, identity thefts, stealing of public funds, bribery and corruption, criminal cartels, and criminal behaviour in general, including assault on and by law enforcement officers. The application of technology to the practice of law and the administration of justice will help facilitate the nation’s ability to reach these goals,” he said.

He was confident that the e-Justice system will be one of the surest ways of diligently executing your task, and appealed to the actors to “make our justice delivery system one we can always be proud of.”