IT training key in E- justice implementation

Justice Samuel Marful-Sau the Chairman of the e – Justice Steering Committee has urged court registrars and judges of the Judicial Service of Ghana to be up-to-date with technology, so as to bring speed and productivity in the administration of the service.

He said Ghana’s judiciary cannot afford to be left behind in an era where the world had gone electronic, but rather would have to aspire to meet the international standards in justice delivery.

Hence, the need to be abreast with technology that will bring about efficiency in the administration of justice through the newly introduced E–Justice system, he added.

This was contained in a press statement signed by Mrs. Grace Tagoe, the Director of Communications of the Judicial Service and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Thursday.

According to the statement, Justice Marful-Sau stated these during a courtesy by a Serbian delegation, led by the first Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, Mr. Ivica Dacic.

The statement said the judicial service, in a bid to equip judges and other stakeholders to be technologically inclined and to expand the implementation of the e–justice project, was exploring Information Technology training opportunities for selected judges and staff.

The statement noted that, six judges had already gone through a six-week training in Information Technology to enhance proficiency in IT systems to facilitate the recently launched e–justice project or the paperless court system.

According to the statement, Justice Henry Kwofie who led the beneficiary judges to Belgrade, described the course held between January 31 and March 1, 2019, as very intensive and interactive and had since made some recommendations to the leadership of the Judiciary and the Judicial Service.

Areas of the training included, ‘Judicial Reform, Information Communication Technology Systems for Justice, Architecture, Network Information Technology, Security Information Technologies, Project Management and IT Auditing, Enterprise information Technology, Computer - Human interaction as well as Ethical and Legal Issues’.

Another beneficiary, Justice Ellen Amoah, who is a user of the e–platform, confirmed that the training had broadened their scope, depth and knowledge of ICT and ICT systems.

“For us practically, it has whetted our appetite, and made us very excited about anything to do with the e – justice, and we are sincerely hoping that dependent upon how collaborations go, the Judicial Service of Ghana would benefit enormously from this seed that has been sown into us,” she said.

The Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Ivica Dacic indicated that the visit formed part of efforts to revive and renew the good relation with Ghana.

Mr. Dacic therefore expressed the hope for Ghana and Serbia to deepen cooperation in different sectors in the future.

The Judicial Secretary, Ms. Cynthia Pamela A. Addo, commended the people of the Republic of Serbia for the offer of scholarship to some Ghanaian Judges.

She also thanked the first Deputy Prime Minister for making time out of his busy schedule to visit Ghana to meet with representatives of Ghana’s third arm of government and the Judicial Service, the statement said.