By Razak Baba.
Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah has said the promise of fair, transparent and honest accountable adjudication of disputes between individuals and institutions, is at the very foundation of democratic practice.
Without these, confidence in the Judiciary weakens. The Chief Justice, Anin-Yeboah said the consent of the governed cannot be procured and maintained, if they cannot trust the institutions that are meant to protect them and secure their rights.
Justice Anin-Yeboah made the point at a Sensitization session on Ghana’s Case Tracking System in Kumasi.
The workshop formed part of the US Agency for International Development, USAID’s Justice Sector Support Activity being implemented in Ghana. It is being jointly organized by the Legal Resource Center, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and the Crime Check Foundation to promote justice delivery in the deployment of technology-based tracking systems for criminal cases.
The Case Tracking System enables key actors in the justice delivery system to electronically access and track the stages of criminal cases from the point of arrest through investigation, prosecution, conviction, and rehabilitation to release.
The workshop, the first to take place in seven selected regions across the country, brought together representatives from Civil Society organizations, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
The Government first launched the electronic case tracking system project in 2018 to support key justice sector institutions to collect, collate and harmonize data for effective justice delivery.
Programme Manager at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Esther Ahulu disclosed that selected community-based organizations from seven regions, including Ashanti, Volta and Western, have been trained to increase advocacy in case-processing with oversight and monitoring responsibilities.
The Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Africa Office, Mina Mensah entreated participants to be part of the system by serving as ambassadors.
A Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Yonny Kulendi presented the Chief Justice’s message, and said the public is put off by what they perceive to be archaic and complex judicial processes,
“That can be more troublesome than the issue for which they seek to invoke the decisions of the law courts,’’ he posited.
The Chief Justice promised fair, transparent and honest accountable adjudication of disputes between individuals and institutions, and said such procedures are critical and formed the very foundation of democratic practice.
