Lack of resources hindering justice delivery – Judge

Justice John Ajet-Nasam, the trial judge hearing the case of Alfred Agbesi Woyome, yesterday lamented the lack of resources hindering the work of judges.

The situation, he said, was hindering the expedition of trials in court such that it was becoming difficult for lawyers to access court proceedings.

“We have to take proceedings in long hands for hours and secretaries have to spend time typing them, not talking about the corrections that we have to make after it has been typed.

“It is really affecting our work and has the likelihood of affecting our backs, which is not good for our health. There are no machines to record proceedings here at Cocoa Affairs, and after all these, some people feel we are just delaying proceedings, but in actual fact it is the lack of resources that is delaying proceedings,” he lamented.

Justice Ajet-Nasam made these comments at the continuation of the cross-examination of Woyome by the state.

The state, however, had to end its proceedings for the day abruptly because the judge could not continue taking notes since he had other cases to record in long hand too.

The judge therefore adjourned the case to tomorrow for continuation.

Recently, regional courts in Ghana stopped sitting, forcing litigants to travel vast distances to Accra, the capital, as judges complained of poor living conditions and government's failure to pay subventions.

The judicial service claims that it has not received its subvention for over a year while working conditions have deteriorated.

The situation led to the closure of some courts, including the appeals courts in the Eastern, Central and Ashanti regions of the country.

In a related development, the Ghana Bar Association said the judicial service had been paralysed by lack of funding, and called on the government and Parliament to make funding immediately available.

The association noted, with regret, that though the constitution guarantees financial autonomy of the judiciary, the institution virtually has to be on its knees begging government to release its subvention.

When the executives toured parts of the country, it came to light that there were cracked walls, leaking roofs, poor sanitation, lack of running water and broken down air conditioners and other infrastructure.

Court recording systems have all broken down, forcing judges to revert to longhand as a way of recording, thereby frustrating the speedy adjudication of cases.

The deplorable situation compromised the security of court documents.

Earlier during cross-examination, the state questioned Woyome over the €3.6 million he received on behalf of M-powapak as total payments for work he did for Waterville and a petition he wrote to the then Attorney General to make some claims.

Woyome told the court that indeed he received the amount but that was for services he rendered to the company, which had nothing to do with the payment he sought from the government in relation to the financial engineering he did.

Mrs Yvonne Obuobisa, Chief State Attorney, who did the cross-examination, put it to the witness that per the expression of interest that was put out by the then Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, government was only interested in the construction of stadia and was not interested in the other projects like the nine regional stadia and hospitals the accused had mentioned.

But Mr Woyome said even though it was not part, it was included by the financers and it was accepted by the Financial Committee, upon which a concurrent approval was given.

On the petition he wrote to the then AG on February 18, 2010, the state attorney said he made a number of claims which were false, but the accused said that was incorrect.

“In the first paragraph of your petition, you asked government to pay €22,129,411.74, which was your professional fees for financial engineering for CAN 2008 and associated project and stadia construction, which stadia were you referring to?”

Woyome told the court that indeed he made such claim from government, indicating that the stadia he referred to were that of nine stadia and an Olympic-size stadium.

But the state attorney pointed out that government sought to construct four stadia for the CAN 2008 and not nine as the accused had referred to. The accused in response said that was not entirely correct and that even though the expression of interest was for four, the concurrent approval was premised on those other projects because of the condition given by the financers.

The state also asked the witness if he had claims against the government in respect to the Accra Sports Stadium, El-Wak and the Baba Yara Stadium. In response, he said he had claims in the totality of the amount that was financially engineered, which included all the stadia in the regional capitals.

In his claim to the AG, the accused also said he made various investments in terms of processes that led to the detailed drawings and surveys which he did and paid himself. He further explained that the government contacted him to do those works through the Local Organising Committee (LOC), the Ministry of Sports and Ministry of Finance.

But the state said those works had nothing to do with CAN 2008 and that per his own exhibits before the court, he was also fully paid by the LOC, and that having been paid by the LOC and Waterville, he (accused) had no outstanding claims against government.

Woyome in response said he was paid for work done by the LOC and that he took government to court for those that it did not pay for, adding that his claims were supported by letters from the LOC, Waterville, among others.