Mob justice is a result of perceived judiciary failure – Justice Akuffo

The nominee for the position of Chief Justice, Ms Sophia Akuffo has stated that one of the causes for mob justice in the country could be attributed to a misunderstanding, perception, and failure of certain processes in the criminal justice system of the country.

She said when such failures occur people often resort to self-help to seek justice which she described as a misnomer adding that “…it has nothing to do with the work that we do.”

“And wherever you see self-help it means that certain things have failed and if it’s within a civil realm, it has to do with some delay in case management and so on and so forth.”

Justice Akuffo clarified that perceived failure on the part of the judiciary “could be a misunderstanding of why a person was freed or there was a perception of what’s the point of reporting to the police or going to court about this matter, or what’s the point about waiting for the judicial outcome because it will take too long and you won’t even understand what’s going on.”

Answering a question from the Appointments Committee Thursday on how she would position the judiciary to minimise the incidence of mob justice in the country, Justice Akuffo stated that effectiveness of the judicial system is an important component that could speed up the quality justice delivery.

“It’s been able to strike that balance and that is one of the areas of concern for the judicial system and the judiciary because so long as there is mob justice , it means something is not going right and we in the judiciary will do our optimum best to ensure that we are not the cause of mob justice.”

Apart from several cases of mob justice in the country with the latest casualty being the lynching of Major Maxwell Adams Mahama, a Ghanaian military officer – many have singled out the judiciary for blame.

Justice Akuffo explained that when people cite the judiciary with the truism “Justice delayed is justice denied”, they fail to see the flipside “Justice hurried is justice buried” which also holds true with regards to resolving judiciary cases.

She added that the definition of mob justice has to be expanded to include other acts of violence including the activities of land guards.