Chief Justice asks districts to improve court infrastructure

Ms Justice Sophia Akuffo, the Chief Justice, has urged district assemblies to take up the responsibility to improve the infrastructure of courts within their jurisdictions to enhance justice delivery.

Ms Justice Akuffo said it was the responsibility of the assemblies to maintain the infrastructure of courts within their jurisdictions assuring that the Judiciary would continue to ensure that the courts were properly staffed to adequately perform their duties to the people.

The Chief Justice said this at Yendi on Thursday after a two-day tour of the Yendi Circuit Court and the Nalerigu District Court in the Northern Region to assess the state of affairs concerning the courts and the Judicial Service staff in the Region.

Both courts visited were in poor state, requiring upgrading and furnishing.

Ms Akuffo said her passion was for the upgrading of the services of the Judiciary and the judiciary process, from the lower magistrate court all the way up, to improve the services of the Judiciary.

She said “Therefore, it is my desire to focus most of the attention on the lower courts to make them to be able to seamlessly link up to the higher court process into the Appeal system all the way to the Supreme Court because with modern technology, there really is no reason why a case, which will commence in the magistrate court, should take a long period of time”.

Ms Justice Akuffo also paid courtesy calls on Nayiri Naa Bohagu Mahami Sheriga, Overlord of the Mamprugu Traditional Area at Nalerigu, and Kampakuya-Naa Andani Yakubu Abdulai, Regent of Dagbon at Yendi and appealed to them to impress on the assemblies to improve the infrastructural situation of the courts in their areas.

Kampakuya-Naa Yakubu Abdulai appealed for a permanent Court of Appeal building in Tamale to facilitate the hearing of appeal cases from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions on regular basis.

He also appealed for a High Court complex at Yendi and District Courts in all Districts to expand the justice delivery system for the purpose of making justice accessible and affordable to all, as people in the Region currently travelled long distances to access courts, a situation which sometimes discouraged them from seeking legal redress.

Nayiri Naa Mahami Sheriga also appealed for a substantive Judge for the Nalerigu District Court to speed up sittings as well as elevation of one of the district courts in the area to a circuit court status to solve the problem of referring cases to Tamale.