No judges for courts in Northern Region

Tamale (Northern Region) 14 May 2002 - The administration of justice in the Northern Region has virtually grounded to a halt, as there is only one judge at post. "The circuit tribunal at Tamale does not have its full complement of panellists and has not been sitting for six months whilst the community tribunal chairmen, who were transferred or retired have not been replaced."

This was contained in a press statement issued by the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) after a meeting between the GBA executive and lawyers, judges and tribunal chairmen in Tamale on Sunday, as part of the GBA's executive tour of the Northern sector.

The GBA executive, led by its National President, Mr Paul Adu-Gyamfi, also held a meeting with the Northern Regional Bar Association. The statement said the region has only one community tribunal chairperson Miss Angela Gyamfi, who handles all the community tribunals in all the 13 districts in the region.

"In a situation where only one community chairperson is compelled to try all cases in all the 13 districts in the region, there is the tendency by the police to bring mostly indictable offences to the tribunals with the likelihood that the police may settle lesser offences at their own level," the statement said.