Judiciary poised to carry out constitutional mandate

Accra Dec, 22, GNA - In spite of budgetary constraints of the Judiciary, personnel of the Service were determined to build a dependable, efficient and effective institution capable of carrying out its constitutional mandate, Chief Justice, Mr Justice George Kingsley Acquah said on Friday. The Chief Justice, who was speaking at the inauguration a Faculty for Research into Justice in Accra on Friday; said critical on the agenda of the Service was the pursuit of programmes that would facilitate speedy administration of justice to increase public confidence. The objective of the Research Project is to identify the nature and extent of social demand for justice and evaluate the supply of justice services and to recommend better policy development on access to justice. The Project, an initiative of Civic Foundation, a nongovernmental organisation is funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Mr Justice Acquah noted that justice delivery was fast developing and the Judiciary was employing all measures and strategies available to ensure that there was equal access to justice by all. He said the concept of justice in a democratic society was not confined to the Judiciary adding that each one had a role to play. "While the Judiciary cannot be oblivious to its own tremendous responsibilities to facilitate the provision of justice, the process of transformation of justice is a collective responsibility and not the domain of a single institution", he said. The Chief Justice said the Judiciary recognised that access to justice was vital to the very survival of democracy and rule of law. "When the poor, the disadvantaged and marginalised are barred from access to justice on account of poverty; social or economic disability they take to mob violence and resort to extra-legal methods of administering justice, which we have been witnessing in our country over the last few months." He said access to justice was a human rights issue and challenged the 21- member Faculty chaired by Professor Justice Modibo Ocran to come up with interesting and innovative proposals that would improve access to justice to the poor and vulnerable. "I hereby urge the Faculty to take its work very seriously, for access to justice is not an academic notion or a vague ideal but a standard we must all strive to make attainable", he said.
The Chief Justice pledged the Judiciary=91s readiness to implement its findings and recommendations. Dr Kwesi Appiah, Executive Secretary of Civic Foundation, said under the Project, a survey on 2,000 people would be conducted in some regions during January, 2007. Mr Eric A. Opoku, Governance Programme Officer, UNDP, said in Ghana access to justice for Ghanaian populace left much to be desired and called for effective collaboration among stakeholders to make justice accessible to all. He also called on stakeholders including civil society, the media and the private sector to participate in the judicial reform process to ensure national ownership. Mr Opoku urged the Faculty to be a catalyst of change in the administration of justice.