Blame prosecutors for delayed galamsey cases — Chief Justice

The Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Sackey Torkornoo, has said the delay in the determination of galamsey cases emanate from the work of prosecutors and not the bench.

In a swift rebuttal to a call by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, regarding the slow pace of such cases in the courts, Chief Justice Torkornoo said: “On the issue of delays in galamsey cases, the Attorney-General will acknowledge that our engagements have shown that the delays emanate from the work of prosecutors”.

She provided the response during her remarks at last Wednesday’s Annual General Meeting of the Association of Magistrates and Judges, Ghana (AMJG) in Accra, where

Mr Dame had earlier given participants updates on the number of pending galamsey cases and called on the Chief Justice to direct judges to finish the cases in one month.

The two-day conference was on the theme: “Improving the security and welfare of the judiciary for effective justice delivery”. 

Galamsey

With many of the country’s water bodies polluted by illegal mining, galamsey has become a topical issue with many individuals and groups calling for its outright ban as a measure to halt the environmental degradation.

The Chief Justice, however, implored the judges to do away with the model of fixing cases 'for mention' completely to ensure that cases were determined expeditiously.

"No matter how tall a cause list is, my sincere view is that with the inclusion of witness statements as a necessary part of the trial process in both civil and criminal cases, there is no need for a court to adjourn a case after the case management conferences for 'mention’.

"My firm view developed from 20 years of sitting as a trial judge and appellate judge is that it should not be the norm that parties are made to dress up, leave their businesses, spend money travelling, and spend time just sitting in a court premise only to hear the title of their case called out and told to come back another date. This should be the exceptional situation," she added.

The Chief Justice further called on the judges to sanitise work delivery in order to serve justice expeditiously, adding that delaying cases fed into the negative narrative about the country's jurisdiction and acted as a disincentive to investors.

"That lack of investment leaves the entire nation, including public services, poorer," she said.

On infrastructure, Chief Justice Torkornoo announced that active steps were being taken to start the renovation and remodelling of the built facilities so that they could be used to serve the justice needs of the country.

Background

The A-G had contended that the trial of illegal mining cases was one of the categories of cases that progressed at a slow pace, as illegal mining continued to cause incalculable damage to the country’s forest reserves and rivers.

Giving further details, Mr Dame said currently, more than 140 cases of illegal mining involving over 850 accused persons were pending in courts in the Western, Eastern, Ashanti, Greater Accra and Upper East regions.

He disclosed further that some of the cases had been pending since 2020.

“This situation cannot be right. We are in urgent national crisis and all citizens and institutions with any form of role to play must be called to action,” he said, calling on the Chief Justice to direct judges hearing such cases to conclude same within one month from the commencement of the legal year from October 10, this year.

In the same vein, he called on politicians to desist from encouraging galamsey through their rhetoric and actions.

“Those who preach amnesty for galamsey offenders must be rejected. There should be no place for the grant of amnesty for such crimes in our body politic, as the lives of citizens and future of our nation are at risk,” Mr Dame added. 

Organised Labour strike

The galamsey debate took centre stage a few weeks back, with some opinion leaders, civil service organisations (CSOs) and Organised Labour calling on the government to declare a state of emergency as the first step towards fighting the menace.

Last Monday, Organised Labour declared that it would embark on a nationwide strike with effect from Thursday, October 10, to back their demand for an outright ban on small-scale mining as a measure to halt the illegal mining menace in the country.

The decision was arrived at after a crunch meeting by the labour unions in Accra following the expiration of the September 30 deadline given to the President to declare a state of emergency over galamsey.

A statement signed by the Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Joshua Ansah, and the Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL),  Kenneth Koomson, called on all workers to stay at home beginning Thursday, October 10, 2024, until the government acceded to their demands.

The statement explained that the industrial action had become necessary because of the government’s failure to meet their demands regarding galamsey.