Judicial Service To Be Transformed

An amount of $1.5 million (?12 billion) is to be made available to government to assist it to transform the Judicial Service.

The amount, which is being provided by the Japanese government, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme and the African Development Bank, is meant for the mechanization of courts in the country. The Co-ordinator of the National Governance Programme, Mrs Leonora Kyeremanten, made this known in Accra at the opening of a three day workshop being organised by the Judicial Service for its personnel to validate a proposed transformation plan for the service.

The workshop is being attended by 45 officials of the service from the Eastern, Central, Western, Volta and Greater-Accra regions. She said the assistance will not be used to automate the courts alone; bailiffs too will be provided with motorbikes to enhance their work. Mrs Kyeremanten noted that six High Courts in Accra have already been automated under the programme.

She announced that the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) and the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom are jointly funding the semi-automation of two magistrates courts in each of the three northern regions on a pilot basis. She indicated that the semi-automation of magistrate courts will be replicated throughout the country after the successful implementation of the pilot project in the three northern regions. “Functional judiciary is a key indicator anywhere for democracy and good governance. This explains why the government and our development partners are determined to provide what it takes t ensure an efficient, professional, excellent and speedy judicial delivery to the public,” Mrs Kyeremanten said.

She noted that plans are underway to fashion out performance appraisal strategies to monitor the work of public institutions such as the National Electoral Commission, the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), and the National Commission for Civic Education. The Co-ordinator of the National Governance Programme said the performance monitoring programme will be similar to the performance contracts signed by government ministries, departments and agencies, except that this will be termed as a social contract.