Minister urges judges to support Chief Justice initiatives

Accra, Oct. 4, GNA - Papa Owusu Ankomah, Minister of Justice and Attorney General on Saturday urged Judges, Lawyers and the entire judiciary to support the initiatives of the Chief Justice to purge the system of corruption. "The Chief Justice's noble initiatives to reform the system of adjudication of justice, transformation of the judiciary and maintenance of high standard of professionalism among judges is laudable," Papa Owusu Ankomah said.

Papa Owusu Ankomah was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview after attending a Special Church Service at The Cathedral Church of The Most Holy Trinity to open the 46th Legal Year. He urged the judiciary to work hard during the year to retain the confidence of the people in administration of justice, "indeed they must ensure that words and conduct support the rule of law to demonstrate the ethics of the profession in the country". The colourful ceremony was nearly marred by poor sitting arrangement. The Acting Ga Manste Nii Adotey Obour and his entourage refused to sit at the original place allotted to them in the midst of the congregation and insisted that the Ga Chiefs should be accorded the due respect by allotting a place at the front row. This generated into argument between the Chief, the Church Leadership and the Judicial Protocol for almost 20 minutes. Eventually the Chief left the Church just before the start of proceedings.

The Chief Justice, Mr Justice George Kingsley Acquah, in a message, said beginning from the current legal year, the Courts of Appeal would sit twice from 0930 to 1230 and 1330 to 1630 hours daily instead of the previous once a day. He said the changes are to help reduce and eventually do away with the tall list of backlog of cases in the courts. The Chief Justice gave a poignant account of the Court system, saying there are only 69 District Courts, which are operational, 21 of them sit twice a week by itinerant Circuit Court Judges, and 24 other District Courts have no Magistrates at all.

Mr Justice Acquah said the situation is compounded by the need to create new Courts to reduce the pressure on existing ones. To arrest this unfortunate situation, the Chief Justice said the Judicial Council has established Career Magistracy to be available to all Ghanaian graduates and diplomats in any discipline. He explained that scope of the Career Magistracy would be different in structure and training from the old Lay Magistracy system. Upon recruitment, following a written examination and interview, the successful Magistrate-in-Training would undergo a two-year training at the Ghana School of Law designed to equip students to understand and appreciate the law, skills and decorum for magisterial bench work.

Mr Justice Acquah said the training would not entitle the student, upon complexion to practices as a Lawyer; they would sit as Magistrates and seek promotion to Senior Magistrate and Chief Magistrate grades, subject to good performance and conduct. He said as part of structural transformation in the judiciary, six courts in Accra have been automated (Fast Tracked), other 19 Courts in Accra would also be automated later in the year, but he stressed that it would depend on the availability of residential accommodation for judges. There is one automated High Court in every region. Mr Justice Acquah said the number of Circuit Courts in Accra is to be increased and new ones established in other parts of the country.