General News of Tuesday, 14 June 2011

Source: GNA

Chief Justice to visit Togo Constitutional Court

Accra, June 14, GNA - The Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, would pay a working visit to the Togolese Constitutional Court from Tuesday, June 14 to Thursday, June 16.

A statement issued by Mrs Grace A. Tagoe, Director of Communications for the Judiciary, said the invitation was at the request of the President of the Constitutional Court, Mr Aboudou Assouma.

She would be accompanied by three Justices of the Supreme Court namely: Mr Justice Jones Dotse, Mr Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie and Mr Justice Sule Gbadegbe.

The delegation would hold discussions with their Togolese counterparts on the electoral systems of both countries with emphasis on Presidential and Parliamentary Elections and the resolution of electoral disputes.

In the sub-region and on the African continent, Ghana's electoral system and election dispute resolution mechanism are respected as shining examples for the rest of the continent.

The statement said this reputation was given practical meaning when delegations from Benin and Nigeria both called on the Chief Justice prior to their general elections held recently to tap into Ghana's experience in organising successful elections and navigating electoral disputes.

Ghana has successfully organised five elections under the Fourth Republic.

Ahead of Election 2008, a manual on election adjudication was also published by the Judicial Service of Ghana.

These initiatives, under the direction of the Chief Justice, in the view of an European Union Election Observer Mission to Ghana, appeared to have built greater confidence amongst political parties in the preparations of the legal system to deal with petitions than had been the case during previous elections.