Judiciary in a mess

The chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Judiciary, Mr Kwame Osei Prempeh, has stated that reports so far gathered from six regions indicate that there is a lot of mess in the administration of justice in the country.

He said some of the allegations levelled against the judiciary were nauseating and very disturbing. Contributing to the “Gold Newspaper Review” this morning, Mr Prempeh said there were reports of naked corruption, robbery, lawyers colluding to extort moneys from clients, judges take moneys from people from both parties, while in some cases two courts had been created with one christened good court were police sent their cases for prosecution.

He said so far, the experience being conducted by the committee in conjunction with the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development had been successful. “We have toured six regions so far, met the people and the stakeholders in the administration of justice. The exercise is quite revealing and people have spoken their minds freely,” he said.

Mr Prempeh said the Judiciary itself had come under a lot of criticisms and the police who handled part of the administration of justice had come in strongly for condemnation and “sometimes the Attorney-General’s Department has also come under attack”.

Asked what the committee was speaking to establish and what the report would be used for, he said there had been a widespread perception that the Judiciary is corrupt. “So far people have expressed many ideas about the judiciary. There have been instances of corruption.

“People have given real instances during open forums and in camera and we have a sub-committee, which have been meeting aggrieved persons,” he said. Mr Prempeh said the committee would compile all the allegations, seek audience with the Chief Justice and present to him its report for action to be taken on it.

He expressed the hope that Parliament would discuss the report thoroughly and make the necessary recommendation to government for corrective measures in order to give a true meaning to the report so as to improve the bad image of the Judiciary.

He said the committee would finish its work by the end of October, after which a stakeholders’ workshop would be held to discuss the way forward.