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General News of Monday, 18 March 2002

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Fast Track Court would be firmly established - Wiredu

The Fast Track High Court would be firmly established, Mr Justice Edward Kwame Wiredu, the Chief Justice has said. Addressing the second biennial conference of the Association of Methodist Men's Fellowships at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, on Saturday, he declared his determination to ensure the best in the administration of justice.

He told delegates at the three-day conference on the theme "Behold a new dawn" that he would forcibly fight to bring sanity and decency into the judicial system, which he said was rife with corruption.

Justice Wiredu said he inherited a debt of seven billion cedis when he took over the administration of justice, attributing it to mismanagement, corruption and malfeasance.

He hinted that there were people in the service with fake certificates, noting that if Christians remained honest, they would always muster courage to condemn wrong doings. "We shall also be able to check ourselves from being dishonest to our neighbours, employers and the society as a whole".

The result would be that there "will not be any rioting and wantonness," he said adding that, "society usually goes rioting because there has been some dishonesty and cheating at one point or the other by some people against others".

The Chief Justice said if those in authority were dishonest and misappropriated public funds or took undue advantage of their positions, the subordinate employees might engage in rioting, which eventually results in wantonness.

Justice Wiredu reminded Christians that it was only when they showed perseverance and faith in their prayers that they would receive the spirit of God, which would direct them to behold the New Dawn.

"Let us also teach our fellow men the path to behold the new dawn and above all, let us eschew devilish behaviour as envy, hatred and wickedness so that we could be said to be children who have been ushered into the New Dawn".

Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, repeated the government's readiness to co-operate with the Church to build a vibrant and prosperous nation.

He called on the Church to take up the challenge of fighting the growing indiscipline among the youth. This, he said, could be done through the intensification of youth evangelisation, saying, "let us instil in our young people respect for law and order".