Welcome new CJ... Be ready for reforms!

The era of Her Ladyship the Chief Justice (CJ), Mrs Theodora Wood, has ended; a new era has started under the new CJ, Her Ladyship Sophia Akuffo. She is most welcome.

This article will look at some of the challenges that the new CJ would have to deal with.

As a matter of principle, she would have to build on the excellent work done by her predecessor, Justice Theodora Wood. Of the many things done, which I shall not relate, I shall briefly say that it is to her credit that Ghana has a new 42-Court Complex that has given pride and respectability to the Judiciary and legal profession. The Supreme Court and several other courts have also been rehabilitated and given a new lease of life. In addition, High Courts have been increased and Appeal Courts established at Cape Coast, Koforidua, Kumasi and Tamale in addition to that of Accra.

By such expansion of courts, more Ghanaians have access to justice within reasonable time and distance.

To sustain these new courts and keep the old ones in good stead, the CJ is to continue with the modernisation of the old and lower courts and improve on maintenance of existing structures. It is appalling to see judges sweating at the lower courts listening to and writing proceedings. Equally untenable is the practice of registrars and judges using their salaries to furnish their offices and bungalows. My own observation is that maintenance is rather weak. The precincts of the Supreme Court and its environs leave much to be desired. It would be helpful to look at the staff capabilities in the maintenance department and provide a sharp leader.

Granted that the financial strength of the judiciary is the determinant of how much could be invested in maintenance and even in new buildings, the next assignment for the CJ is to negotiate an increase in the retention fees of the judiciary, from fees paid for services. Currently, the judiciary retains 15 per cent of fees for its use. This could be increased to 30-35 per cent to enable the CJ to have enough funds for the major things to be done for the judiciary.
Invariably, the judicial staff would also benefit from the increased retention of fees. Summarily, the CJ would need to address the following issues of the judiciary:

• Provision of official and personal vehicles for registrars of the superior courts of judicature;

• Correction of anomaly of giving private bailiffs GH¢20.00 per service of fees paid, but nothing to traditional bailiffs at the courts;

• Consultation with registrars on matters pertaining to overall management of the registries and improvement of work delivery; registrars think they are not adequately respected, acknowledged, appreciated and rewarded;

• Swift resolution of administrative ineptitude of transferring some judicial staff from one rank to another, and thereby reducing their salary! Human Resource (HR) department to answer for such injustice.

• Erasure of fear of victimisation and punitive transfers for being outspoken;

In all these 20 years plus of interacting with the staff of various registries, I can say with certainty that they work so hard, and the lapses of misplacement of files are correctible if and only if the CJ would have a uniform method of filing management designed and implemented throughout the courts.

Filing fees

Another issue relates to the high filing fees paid at the courts. The fees were legislated into being on July 21, 2003. When one goes on appeal, for example, one pays GH¢10.00 per photocopy of a paper for the preparation of appeal records! So that the sheer cost of appeal proceedings have dissuaded a good number of persons from appealing their cases for good cause. This is certainly unjust, and not compatible with the national credo: Freedom and Justice. The CJ has to review the fees with the assistance of the Ghana Bar and the registrars.

Criminal Justice

Another demanding work has to do with criminal justice in the country. The prisons are choked with remandees and convict prisoners. It would be most commendable if the CJ, Attorney-General (A-G) and Director of Prisons, could send a bill to Parliament to legislate Non-custodial Sentencing in Ghana. I have already written on this (Daily Graphic of May 6, 2015). It amounts to enormous wastage of manpower and money to keep so many young people in prison, when there is such colossal work to be done on the environment. In fact, if the CJ succeeds in getting this legislation passed, her Ladyship would have done Ghana a tremendous good. She can do it, so she must!

Rules of Court

Her Ladyship has another critical issue to deal with: the Rules of Court! We have to review the Rules of Court from the District to the Supreme Court. CI 47, CI 19, CI 16 must be reviewed. For example, when the Appeal Court grants extension of time to appeal, they give dates within which the appeal must be filed. However, it takes a long while before the record of the case is ready for use by the lawyer. When you file your written submission when the record is ready, the Courts would throw it out on grounds that you are out of time! So, what ought to be done, procedurally, is that the courts must await the submission to them by the registrar of the complete record of the case; then, and only then, should the court set dates for filing of the lawyer’s submission. Such a procedure must be written.

Another example is that at the Appeal and Supreme courts, each process is filed on a fresh docket. I consider this practice as wasteful of space, paper, money and repetitive processes by lawyers. An inter-disciplinary committee, comprising the Ghana Bar, A-G’s department, the registrars and the Bench, must be formed to handle the review of the rules. Court forms would also have to be redesigned for ease of use.

The last points are questions Her Ladyship, Justice Akuffo, is respectfully invited to answer: What does it say about the judicial system of Ghana, when it takes over two to 12 years for a land case to be disposed of? When a Judge studies a case, and sees where the truth lies, must he keep quiet for the lawyers, in our adversarial system, to slug it out year after year till the case is finished? Sometimes, the good party loses because of technicalities which the judge knows of! Is this a legacy of the common law that we inherited from the British, and are we to continue with it? What legal/judicial system is operational in the Francophone countries, where cases are speedily adjudicated and done with? Can Ghana be innovative and blend some of the strengths of the Francophone system with that of the British?

Has the CJ seen the point being made? The adjudicatory system practised in Ghana is costly, tiresome, frustrating and time-consuming! We have to change! The CJ must consult jurists and the best legal brains in the country for some dramatic reforms to shake us out of our medieval mentality.

Other matters that cannot be dealt with openly would be communicated to the CJ through memos. We wish her success.