Reducing delays in justice system - Justice Anin Yeboah advocates more courts, judges

The Chief Justice nominee, Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah, has underscored the need to build more courts and employ more judges to reduce delays in the justice delivery system of the country.

Answering questions during his vetting by the Appointments Committee of Parliament yesterday, he said the Judiciary was committed to building more courts and had actually committed funds to building new ones.

He, however, said the budget of the Judiciary was limited and could not solve the infrastructural deficit of courts and, therefore, there was the need for metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to commit more funds to such an endeavour.

“Indeed, per the Local Government Act, it is the duty of the MMDAs to build courts in their localities.

We have to build more courts, employ more judges and try as much as we can to motivate them.

Judges are not up to 4,000 and so we are nowhere near the stage where we can expeditiously work on cases, but we are trying to take advantage of the few that we have,” he said.

Justice Anin Yeboah said the inadequate number of courts in the country, apart from causing delays in justice delivery, was generally a bane to access to justice.

He gave an example of how the next court after the one at Adenta, heading towards the Akuapem Ridge, was in Mampong Akuapem, a long distance away, adding that the situation meant that many communities on the Akuapem Ridge had no immediate access to courts.

“If there are courts in such communities, the residents can go to court and quickly go to their farms, thereby making life more comfortable for them,” he said.

Corruption

Addressing concerns about corruption in the Judiciary, the nominee said: “I will not say that there is no corruption in the Judiciary, but it comes in many forms.

If anybody lodges a complaint at the Chief Justice's Secretariat, we invite the judge over to the secretariat to investigate.”

Asked if he would advocate that judges should not take gifts from anybody, he said: “We live in a very small community and we know so many people, so if at Christmas you come and give me a hamper that is worth more than GH¢500, will that amount to influencing me so that when you have a case I can favour you?

“I am talking of gift in a cultural sense.

If people I know give me gifts, I will take it that it is in a cultural sense, but if a corporation I don't know nowhere brings me a gift, I can't take it because I don't know it and I am certain my colleagues will do same,” he said.

Gruelling vetting

Justice Anin Yeboah endured almost six hours of a gruelling vetting by the committee, as he defended his judgments, professed his stance on critical issues on law and society and generally gave a glimpse of the kind of leader he would be when given the nod to lead the Judiciary.

The 66-year-old justice of the Supreme Court, who was called to the Bar in 1981, answered questions pertaining to his early education, his call to the Bench in 2001 and why he should be confirmed as Chief Justice.

The 26-member committee, chaired by Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, dug into his educational and professional background to determine his preparedness to head the third arm of government.

The vetting was attended by the immediate past Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo, justices of the Supreme Court, some ministers of state, family members and friends of the nominee.

Knowledge on law

Justice Anin Yeboah advised Ghanaians on how to deepen their knowledge about the laws of the country.

He said citizens must feel free to test the law at the Supreme Court to help bring light to aspects of the Constitution that needed clarification.

For instance, he said, if Mr Martin Kpebu had not gone to the Supreme Court to seek interpretation to the 48-hour rule, “that part of the law wouldn’t have been developed the way we are going to see it”.

Legal education

Asked whether it was fair under the present arrangement for law students to write an examination in nine subject areas at one sitting, he said the General Legal Council was putting in measures to address the problem.

“We are not taking any steps to block anybody, but we must be very, very careful,” he said.

Making reference to an exercise the General Legal Council undertook in some of the institutions offering the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) degree course, the nominee said: “If you clear me, I will cause the council to publish what we found at the various faculties and you will realise that it is very, very dangerous.”

Background

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo nominated Justice Anin Yeboah as Chief Justice, in accordance with Article 144 (1) of the 1992 Constitution, which provides that “the Chief Justice shall be appointed by the President, acting in consultation with the Council of State and with the approval of Parliament”.

Article 144 (2) provides that “the other Supreme Court justices shall be appointed by the President, acting on the advice of the Judicial Council, in consultation with the Council of State and with the approval of Parliament”.

Consistent with the Constitution, the President wrote to the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye, informing him about the nomination of Justice Anin Yeboah for the position of Chief Justice.

Consequently, the Speaker of Parliament referred the President's nominee to the Appointments Committee of Parliament for consideration and report.