One of Ghana’s main problems appears to be finding judges to staff the country’s current legal institutions. However, the judiciary is creating new tribunal courts to deal with cases of corruption and economic crimes.
The absence of a judge presiding over trials and making decisions in a courtroom indicates that the nation is at a turning point. Judgment on serious crimes will be impacted if this persists. Furthermore, it will have a cascading effect on other individuals.
Like several others, private attorney Justice Abdulai is actually rather concerned about the situation. He believes that this is a significant challenge to the country and that there is no need to create additional tribunals rather than dealing with the issues. More than fifty courts lack judges, according to Abdulai.
Currently, inadequate infrastructure, a shortage of judicial staff, and poor logistics are the issues affecting the administration of justice in Ghana rather than the lack of tribunals. Therefore, the idea of establishing new regional tribunals is “dead on arrival.”
Instead, the funds designated for the establishment of new institutions could be utilized to improve already-existing courts. This is due to fundamental issues facing Ghana’s legal system, such as a lack of court facilities, judges, and employees.
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Indeed, Ghana’s judiciary has grown throughout time, but this expansion has not kept up with the rising volume of cases that the courts are handling.
Unfortunately, judges from other courts are required to help in certain courts across the nation that do not have resident judges. Remarkably, the majority of judges still struggle with accommodations, and certain courts are overburdened with hundreds of cases that are close to 600.
All of these difficulties explain why Ghana’s legal system experiences numerous delays and corruption that go much beyond the timetables that are frequently addressed. Ghana’s existing system is slowed down since some cases take longer than two years to reach a decision.
In response to the aforementioned, Justice Abdulai mentioned a 32-year case that he eventually inherited as a lawyer after it had been handled by earlier attorneys.
The government and the judiciary must increase the number of circuit courts devoted exclusively to cases in order to address this issue. In this manner, fewer resources would be needed and half of the issue may be resolved. After all, the Constitution recognizes public tribunals.
Rather than establishing a new institution, Ghana should concentrate on addressing the system’s fundamental flaws.