Dilapidated Courts to Be Shut Down– Chief Justice

The Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo says her office will close down dilapidated court structures which put the judicial service staff at risk.

According to her, enough notices had been given to responsible local assemblies to refurbish these facilities, most of which had yielded no response.

She said the vision of the Judicial Service is to ensure quality justice delivery, its readiness to post more judges but only to areas with judicial facilities which are safe for staff.

Her Ladyship Akuffo said this when she paid a courtesy call on the Paramount Chief of Essikado Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketsia, on the first day of her six-day tour of judicial Service facilities in the Western Region.

Addressing a cross-section of chiefs from the Western Region with concerns on the slow pace of justice delivery, the Chief Justice explained that the provision of facilities for delivery of judicial services is the responsibility of local assemblies as stated in the Local Government Act.

“The Local Government Act is clear that the provision of courts and facilities for judicial services is the responsibility of the Local assemblies. The Judicial Service failed on its part to remind them of their responsibility and rather spent from its little resources in putting up such facilities but we have resolved to get the local assemblies fulfil their mandate. The Judicial Service has developed model court structure which all assemblies must have the design and ensure their implementation.

“We are ready to dispatch Judges and other judicial staff to come and offer justice, but what I have realized in recent times is that some of the court infrastructures are dangerous. So, as I am embarking on this tour, all judicial structures found dangerous would be closed down after failure to get local assemblies to fix them within time”.

Justifying her decision, Sophia Akuffo said, “this is not an attempt to deny anyone access to judicial services, but we are also afraid in such dangerous structures since it is humans that works in them”.

Also in a move to ensure businesses and individuals at the local level get speedy access to judicial services, Sophia Akuffo said the Circuit and Magistrate courts will soon be merged to facilitate economic dispute at the local level.

She said the proposals to commerce the merging processes for Circuit and magistrate courts will by April this year be submitted to the Judicial Service Council.

According to her, more than 75 percent of Ghanaians at the local level depends on the lower courts including Magistrate and Circuit courts which are both not usually accessible in most places for the specialized services so we are going to merge them to offer one stop services.

“Economists tells us that time is money and when people have litigation before the courts, it is not right for them to spend the whole day travelling just to go access magistrate court or circuit court.

“Sometimes they get to court late and the case is adjourned which affects productivity and general business, so in an attempt to get justice to the people we are expecting to send proposal to the Judicial Council for the merging of Circuit and Magistrates court by April this year”.

On his part, the Paramount Chief of Essikado Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketsia urged the Chief Justice to be guided by a principle to leave a good legacy for generations to come.

---citinewsroom