By Razak Baba
A Town Hall Meeting has been held in the Asokwa Municipality of the Ashanti Region to increase citizens’ involvement and advocacy for the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in resolving cases and the utilization of the Electronic Integrated Criminal Justice Case-Tracking System.
The meeting was also to create awareness of, and rally support for the speedy passage into law, the Community Service Bill, which would provide for the use of non-traditional sentencing approaches in convicting offenders for certain types of offences considered minor or misdemeanours instead of the usual Custodial Sentencing. Razak Baba reports that the participants at the Town Hall Forum in the Asokwa Municipality of the Ashanti Region included leadership of Traders Associations, Dressmakers and Hairdressers Associations, Youth and Religious groups, Persons Living With Disability and Representatives of Justice Sector Institutions.
It was organised by the Legal Resources Centre, a non-governmental organisation, as part of its Justice Sector Support Activity which is being implemented in 40 s districts in seven regions of the country with funding from the United States Agency for International Development, USAID. Ghana’s Criminal Justice system is confronted with numerous challenges that inhibit effective and equitable justice delivery. Key to these challenges includes a lack of effective communication and collaboration among the key justice institutions.
This challenge has led to the introduction of the Ghana Case Tracking which was launched in 2018 to improve justice delivery. The Case Tracking System is an integrated criminal case tracking technological tool designed to digitize the manual processes and lifecycle information of criminal justice agencies, starting with the key justice sector institutions. Speaking at the Town Hall Meeting, the Programme Manager of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Madam Esther Ahulu said “the system will need strong governmental backing to ensure a successful take-off”.
Madam Esther Ahulu revealed that plans are far advanced to train stakeholders involved in the Justice delivery system on how to use the Tracking system.
