CJ to review criteria for selection of Judges

The Chief Justice (CJ), Mrs. Georgina Theodora Wood on Friday said the Judicial Service is going to focus more on the moral and ethical values in the appointment of judges.

She said the service would review the selection criteria and the focus “will reflect the desire to improve on the behavioral aspects of judges”.

The CJ said this would ensure that a judge’s behaviour remain consistent with his or her calling and over the relationship with his or community of workers and service recipients.

She was speaking at the inauguration of a 42 new courtroom complex in Accra.

The court complex is made up of 10 land courts, 10 commercial courts, six criminal courts, six general jurisdiction court, three divorce and matrimonial courts, two financial and economic courts, two human rights courts, two labour courts and a Probate and Administration court.

The court complex has banking facilities cafeteria, 300 seater auditorium, library, a business centre, media briefing room, executive office for the Attorney General and Police Prosecutor and a data centre among others.

Late President John Evans Atta Mills four years ago cut the sod for the construction of the complex to replace the dilapidated courts known as the cocoa affairs Court.

The construction is the first, since 1940 for the judiciary.

Social Security and National Insurance Trust provided funding of the complex.

The Chief Justice urged all “to build that character trait by eschewing all tendencies that undermine the contrary perception of you.”

Mrs Wood said she had tasked herself to restore faith in the country’s judicial system stressing that “our commitment is not simply a verbal commitment but one, backed by action.”

She said the judicial council is also determined to prevail over the challenges confronted the judiciary in present time adding that as institutions and individuals they had acknowledged where they went wrong and were committed to restore their independence and integrity.

As an institution, the CJ said the judiciary stood at a threshold of a new dawn and asked Ghanaians to take a respite from the negativities of the past weeks and join hands with them in restoring and rebuilding the judiciary.

“When you find yourself as an adversary in court, resist the temptation to find someone who knows the judge in order that you may obtain favour,” Mr Wood admonished.

According to her “the judiciary is poised to stand, thrive and overcome the present scourge imposed on us by the vents of the past”.

“We cannot allow the selfish desires of the minority in our midst to undo our efforts and expectations”.

The CJ noted that the new building signify an opportunity for a new beginning urged all to resolve to build a system of justice that assured litigant and countrymen from present ashes of decay and justify the assertion that “indeed those who uphold are more than those who pervert the cause of justice”.

Mrs Wood said in the new judiciary, training retraining and continuing legal education that would define their work and institutional focus.

“The new judiciary should be marked by a consciousness for ethic and ethical culture,” She added.