Pay us our delayed allowances, other benefits – Magistrates, judges

The continued de­lay in the payment of medical, fuel and transfer grants to magistrates and judges is a hin­drance to effective justice delivery, Justice Henry A. Kwofie, the presi­dent of Association of Magistrates and Judges (AMJ) has said.

He said the situation of delayed payments of judges and magis­trates allowances and other benefits had moved from bad to worse.

Mr Justice Kwofie, a Court of Appeal judge, said these at the on­going AMJ annual conference held in Accra yesterday on the theme “A Financially Independent and Accountable Judiciary; The Key to Effective Justice Delivery.”

He said although the issue of delayed payment of allowances to magistrates and judges was discussed at the conference in 2023, the concern had not been addressed.

“The question we need to ask is whether having regard to the concerns and dissatisfaction expressed last year, there has been no improvement in the situation. Needless to say, and I say this with some sadness that the situation has not only improved but has gone from bad to worse. Almost all allowances with the exception of quinquennial leave allowance are way behind schedule.”

He said the year has entered the fourth and last quarter but even the second quarter’s fuel allowance has not been paid so we can’t even begin to talk about the third and fourth quarter’s allowance.

The president of AMJ said he was worried that judges pay for the servicing and maintenance of their official cars and submit the cost thereof to the service for refund which takes months and sometimes even up to a year to be refunded.

Touching on the security of judges and magistrates, Justice Kwofie said the lack of adequate security at the court poses risks to judges and magistrates.

“As for the security of judges and magistrates especially in our courts, it is virtually non-existent. Ghana is probably the only country in Africa where anybody can enter any courtroom including even the Supreme Court without going through a security check. “

He said in countries like Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, there was no way anybody can enter the court premises without having gone through appropriate security.

But in Ghana, the president of AMJ said the security of the courts had been taken for granted.

Unlike other public servants who could demonstrate, sometimes in the most uncompromising ways, to press home their demands, judges and magistrates could only com­plain about it.

“These issues relating to the wel­fare and security of judges cannot be taken for granted unfortunately unlike other public servants, who go on the street and shout from the rooftops and worse still with­draw their services, we can only complain and talk about it but we ask that these complaints need to be taken seriously,” he said.