Accra, July 22, GNA - The Judicial Service of Ghana (JSG) and the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) on Tuesday signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) to swap the current site of the 28th February Road Court popularly known as Cocoa Affairs court with the former Victoriaborg Press, a parcel of land adjoining it.
The arrangement is that the JSG would construct a proposed modern court complex on the Victoriaborg site owned by SSNIT while SSNIT would in turn take over the current site housing the Cocoa Affairs Court for development into a commercial facility as part of SSNIT's investments. The Chief Justice (CJ), Mrs. Georgina T. Wood, who signed for the JSG, said the release of the asset would enable the JSG to proceed with the construction of a five-storey 34-room courts complex to house two Courts of Appeal, High Courts, Circuit and Magistrate courts, offices, a cafeteria and a banking hall.
The CJ said negotiations for the construction of the court complex were at a fairly advanced stage when she assumed office and she had tried to move the discussions forward in order to achieve the set objectives by completing the five-storey court complex. She said the historic occasion was the realization of a vision set in motion by her predecessor, the late Mr Justice George Acquah and the combined efforts of many others who worked tirelessly to ensure that the vision was developed this far.
The CJ said the stakeholder's forum organised by the JSG to dialogue and exchange ideas on the development and construction of the project also brought up several areas for consideration and incorporation. Mrs Justice Wood said the outcome of the forum had led to the revision of the design which was submitted by the consultants to include some useful facilities such as an auditorium, a press centre and clinic to meet the health needs of the judges and lawyers as well as court users. She said the current state of the courts had seriously hampered the effective and efficient administration of justice in Ghana, adding that, the construction of the court complex would go a long way to provide lawyers and court users the congenial atmosphere to do their work. Mr. Kwesi Boateng, General Manager (Finance) SSNIT, who signed for his organisation, said the process of the MOU between JSG and SSNIT started in 2003 but the process stalled and was only revived by the current CJ.
He said the MOU would lead to the execution of the formal asset swap agreement after the values of the properties being determined currently have been completed. Mr Boateng expressed the hope that the collaboration between SSNIT and JSG would be a positive one that would improve the justice delivery system. He said SSNIT had taken advantage of the weekend Courts initiated by the CJ to recover over GH¢1.5 million cedis being arrears of social security contributions between April and June 30, 2008. He said SSNIT was also considering recommending to the CJ to extend the weekend courts to Kumasi, Takoradi and Tema areas. 22 July 08
