Chief Justice Advocates New Approach To Deal With Bribery And Corruption

Chief Justice Sophia Abenaa Boafoa Akuffo, on Thursday said the failure of lower courts to have regular supply of requisite office stationeries and equipment's for their work is a recipe for bribery and corruption.

"The courts must not run out of office stationeries', she said.

She said the shortage or lack of equipment can delay proceeding and create avenues for money to change hands.

Mrs Akufo made the observation in Dormaa-Ahenkro as part of a five day working visit to the Brong Ahafo Region at the Circuit Court in Dormaa Ahenkro to familiarise herself with the activities of the Court.

The visit also allowed the Chief Justice and her team including some members of the Judicial Service Association of Ghana (JUSAG), and quasi judicial staff an opportunity to interact with both junior and senior staff of the Court.

She inspected the conditions and state of the various departments of the Court including the Judge's Chambers, the Court auditorium, the typing pool and the registrar's office.

The Chief Justice stressed the need to ensure proper maintenance of the entire Court building asking officials to keep the ceiling in proper condition, tiling or building concrete Court platform, restoring a dysfunctional computer and its accessories, tiling the Judge's Chambers floor and installing air-conditions and building a fence wall around the Court.

She advised the staff to organise periodic cleaning of the facility and rid some of its rooms of discarded materials and documents.

"You shouldn't allow junk to pile up, we need to use existing structures to get rid of these disposable items", she added.

The Chief Justice said there was the need for the Dormaa Central Municipal Assembly to factor plans for the proposed High Court into the medium term of the Assembly.

It also came up during the interactions that the court registrar had for sometime failed to apply for the office stationeries from the Regional Office of the Judicial Service.

Mr Stephen Amoah, the Court Registrar enumerated a number of challenges facing the court such as lack of bailiffs, cashiers and office stationeries and called for adequate measures to help address them.