Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo
Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo has underscored the need for the government to allocate more resources to improve the judiciary system.
She noted that the current administrative work of the judiciary is a manual system, which delays its operations.
In her view, with enough resources, the entire system can be digitalized with proper investment in the sector.
Speaking at a press conference on April 8, she said allocating enough resources to enhance the work of the judiciary would allow them to be accountable to the Ghanaian public by publishing real-time judgements.
“To allow for easier networking of all stakeholders, there is a need to increase the budget of the judiciary, to allow us room to expand our infrastructure in the automation and digitalisation agenda, because undoubtedly the efficiency of court processes and administration is assured with more deliberate use of technology.
“There is a need to increase our budget, to make learning lively, and operational resources available to all judges and staff in order to enhance the speed with which both judicial and administrative decisions are made and communicated to stakeholders.
“There is a need for the judiciary to make itself accountable by increasing transparency in the process and output of our judgments and decisions through real-time publications of decisions, especially when it comes to decisions on land ownership and other areas of law that affect the economy and social stability of a country,” she added.
"The new system, if implemented effectively, could potentially address the judicial system’s weaknesses, which have been prone to exploitation and rent-seeking behavior, she opined.
“Judicial administration must close the gaps through which court reasons are subjected to exploitation and rent-seeking behavior. This demands the removal of as much of the human interfacing that court work is exposing.
“Court officials are expected to work with independence with impartiality, competence and integrity. Much of these ethical values are lost in the heavy traffic of human interfacing between court officials and court reasons, including unknown brokers functioning around the courts,” she added.
