Most courts are death traps - Chief Justice declares

By Joyce Danso, GNA

Accra March 20, GNA - The Chief Justice Sophia A. B Akuffo has described some court edifice as death traps which would affect the performance of judicial personnel to work effectively.

According to her, Ghana deserve a modern 21 century -ready Judicial Service, explaining that the service must have systems that worked, a professional and ethical work force as well as the physical infrastructure and tools that were conducive to the assurance of timely quality justice.

Ms. Akuffo was speaking that the launch of the Electronic Justice (E-Justice) project by President Nana Addo Darkwa Akufo Addo at the Law Courts Complex in Accra.

E-Justice also known as Paperless Courts formed part of the government’s E-Transformation that seeks to automate the existing manual filing systems within the courts’ Registries ranging from the filing of cases to execution of court decisions.

Ms Akuffo said there were too many court houses with miserable, deplorable and unhygienic court not fit for human habitation.

She said during her tour around the country, she had been “saddened, appalled, disturbed by the conditions in which justice is dispensed and accommodation provided to our judges and Magistrates.

Ms Akuffo said the nature of some of the courts compelled her to close down some.

‘I can’t continue to expect Judges and staff to work in within an unsafe and unhygienic conditions,’ She said.

According to her, due to the urgency of the matter, the Judicial Service was in discussions with local authorities whose duty it was to provide operational court facilities to improve on those capable of improvement or replace them.

She appealed to the President Nana Akuffo Addo, to focus on those critical issues in order to find a workable solution.

GNA

Read Full Story