Chief Justice waters down investor anxiety over election disputes
The Chief Justice, Mrs Theodora Georgina Wood, has assured businesses and the investor community of a speedy, fair and transparent adjudication of election related cases to help defuse the tension and protect the peace in the country before, during and after the December 7 general election.
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To help make this a reality, Mrs Wood said the Judiciary, which she heads, had already put in place adequate measures and resources that are needed to deal with such disputes in a manner that will bring finality to them and help bolster the sociopolitical stability in the country.
She gave the assurance at the opening ceremony of the 11th edition of the Maritime Seminar for Judges in Accra on November 19.
As the country heads to the polls to elect Members of Parliament (MPs) and a President in two weeks, Mrs Wood observed that litigations around the election process and the election itself were bound to happen but the nature of their adjudication would determine the impact these disagreements will have on the country's image.
Given the importance of a peaceful sociopolitical environment to the growth of the maritime sector and the economy in general, the Chief Justice said her outfit had resolved to ensure that the actions of the Judiciary would help to defuse rather than diffuse the tension that the voting process normally brings.
But while at it, she said "it is important that we all exercise restraint and allow the courts to settle all elections-related differences to ensure that our country remains as united as ever."
Her comments are expected to help douse the anxiety of the investor community that elections disputes could threaten the country's nascent democracy, stable sociopolitical environment and reduce the confidence businesses have in the economy.
It could also help inspire confidence in the sea trade business and that could help to lift the volume of cargo passing through the Tema and Takoradi ports.
Impact of seminar
The annual Maritime Seminar for Judges is an initiative of the Ghana Shippers' Authority (GSA) to help refresh and expose judges and stakeholders in the legal profession to trending issues in the maritime industry. It is aimed at equipping participants with key competences to be able to handle litigations that emanate from the sea trade business.
The seminar is characterised by the presentation of papers by and discussions from seasoned judges, lawyers and maritime specialists from Ghana and abroad on selected topics of interest to both the legal and maritime community.
After habitually opening the seminar since she was made Chief Justice in 2007, Mrs Wood said she had come to realise that most judges often relied on the knowledge tip tanned from the seminar to arrive at conclusions on maritime related litigations.
This, she said, was ample testament of the value and benefits accruing from the seminars.
"Following from the above, it is important to ensure that these seminars continue to provide the needed platform for intruding new concepts and refreshing our minds on novel areas governing shipping, international trade and admiralty matters."
"In fact, a firm and confident grasp of such matters will positively impact on the quality of justice delivered and assist in establishing and maintaining a robust jurisprudential database on this special area of the law," Mrs Wood, who retires next year after 43 years on the bench, added.
One judge, one Admiral
Since 2005, when the Maritime Seminar for Judges was first introduced, papers on various aspects of the sector have been presented by different categories of people.
To help preserve the knowledge shared for posterity, the Shippers' Authority has created a compendium of the papers to be known as the Admiral, which it plans to launch early next year.
Its Chief Executive Officer, Dr Emmanuel Kofi Mbiah, said once the Admiral is ready, each judge will be given a copy to serve as a handy reference on the subject.
The initiative is part of wider efforts by the authority to help equip the bench and afford it the best opportunity to be able to adjudicate on matters on the sector in a swift, transparent and equitable manner.
On cargo throughput - a measure of the among of goods passing through the two ports - Dr Mbiah said third quarter results showed that it rose from 12.7 million tons in 2015 to 14.2 million tons in September this year.
The 12 per cent growth within the nine-month period was a reflection of a marginal growth in seaborne trade recorded in the global arena.
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