More professional lawyers to go on Lower Bench

Very soon, career magistrates without appropriate legal qualifications would find it difficult holding onto their jobs, as more people with professional legal backgrounds are taking up positions as magistrates.

This is because of the recent improvement in service conditions of the lower Bench and the amendment of the Courts Act which has reduced the numbers of years at the Bar for a magistrate, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Marrietta Brew Appiah-Oppong disclosed this on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday.

She was answering questions posed by the Member of Parliament for Effiduase/Asokore, Mr Frank Boakye Agyen, seeking to find out if there was a plan to upgrade the professional, academic and hierarchical status of career magistrates.

Mrs Appiah-Oppong said as part of efforts by the Judiciary to promote access to justice, the amendments to the Court Acts and the improvement of the conditions of service is gradually attracting professional lawyers who hitherto shunned the lower because of the poor remuneration and unattractive locations of service.

Because of this development, more career magistrates are taking the opportunity to further studies to remain relevant to positions on the bench

The Minister said the need for magistrates became greater with the creation of the new districts as part of the decentralisation programme, resulting in new district courts being opened to cater for the new districts. Currently, there are some 50 lawyers who are professional magistrates.

She said with the setting up of several law faculties in the country offering Bachelor of Laws (LLB) programmes at the weekend, the Judicial Service has instituted a policy to allow magistrates working at courts within a certain distance from Accra to access such programmes.

She said the policy of allowing only those from Accra to pursue the programme was due to the fact that Career magistrates from long distance stations are travelling to Accra every weekend to attend classes and this adversely affected their work in the courts.

The Attorney-General said those who qualified to do professional Law course are granted leave to go to the Law School.

“Initially, some were given study leave with pay and later study leave without pay. Now with the rise in numbers and the availability of Lawyers for the position of magistrate, those who have LLB and want to go to the Law School are given the option to resign”

“It is worthy to note that one of the Career magistrates who took advantage of this policy has completed Law School and has been called to the Bar as a qualified Lawyer. He is now undertaking his pupilage in one of the district Court as a career magistrate and will soon become a professional Magistrate thereafter”, she said.

The Minister however noted that Career Magistrates are well equipped for professional work as they are given continuous judicial and professional education by the Judicial Training Institute during their practice.

She said however that there are proposals to promote Career Magistrates to Principal magistrates and finally to Chief magistrates.