Northern Region needs more courts - Alhaji Idris

Tamale, June 16, GNA - Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Northern Regional Minister on Monday stressed the need for more courts to be established in the region to facilitate adjudication of numerous cases pending before the few courts.

He said the size of the region alone was a recipe for confusion and that if there were courts in all the districts to try and punish troublemakers others would compote themselves and would stay away from conflicts to bring peace to the Northern Region. Alhaji Idris said this when Mr. Justice Anin Yeboah, a Supreme Court Judge paid a courtesy call on him on Monday. Mr. Yeboah is paying a four-day working visit to the Northern and Upper East regions to inspect court infrastructure and to see how officials of the judiciary were faring in those areas, particularly in the conflict zones.

The meeting with the Minister was also to enable the judge to lobby for Central government to allow the courts to use 50 per cent of their internally generated funds to develop and improve infrastructure within the Service.

Alhaji Idris said there was the need also for judges and Magistrates in the region to be given decent accommodation, adequate protection and needed respect to carry out their duties in a peaceful state of mind.

He said the Northern Regional Coordinating Council was considering seeking land to construct a judicial village in the region to ensure that all court officials were properly accommodated. Mr. Justice Anin Yeboah said conditions under which some High Court Judges and Magistrates had been working were very appalling and recommended that 50 per cent of the courts' internally generated funds be used for infrastructure improvement.

He said situations whereby some Magistrates were overseeing more than two districts were not facilitating the justice system and expressed the hope that the situation would improve if there were facilities to accommodate officials at all districts.