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ADMINISTRATION BLOCK AND LAND COURT COMMISSIONED |
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 His Excellency Mr. J. A. Kufour, President of the Republic of Ghana, has exhorted the Judiciary to commit itself fully to the Latimer House Principles and adopt the document as a blueprint to enhance accountability, transparency and integrity within the judicial system.
This, the President stressed, would ensure stability, economic growth and development within the country.The President made this call when he commissioned the New Administration Block of the Judicial Service and the Land Investment Court at a ceremony at the Supreme Court grounds in Accra yesterday.
The Latimer House Principles are a set of guidelines on best practices set out by Commonwealth Law Ministers in 2002 and endorsed by Commonwealth Head of State in 2003 to govern relationships between the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary to promote good governance.
The President noted that, the three branches of government are inextricably linked and the discharge of their respective functions had to support each other.
President Kufour stated that, over the last few years, the government had committed itself to support the Judiciary in various ways to enable it discharge its constitutional mandate and was vigorously engaged in providing infrastructure, particularly office accommodation and courtrooms to the service.
The President said he was happy that, with government’s budgetary support, the Financial and Law Investment Court and the Administration Block of the Judicial Service were ready for the commissioning, while the Appeal Court complex in Kumasi had already been completed.
“These edifices will assist in decongesting the offices and in alleviating some of the severe accommodation shortages that the institution has endured over the years”, he added.
The President reiterated that, in the pursuit to bring justice to the doorstep of Ghanaians, the Judiciary should be mindful of public demands for justice that is transparent, fair, efficient and effective.
He expressed his confidence in the Judiciary as it continued to pursue comprehensive reforms and mechanization program for the public to see a new and a highly respected system of justice dispensation.
Her Ladyship the Chief Justice Mrs. Georgina T. Wood, in her speech, noted that the over-arching theme of the Judicial Service was Access to Justice and the main strategy to combat it was the provision of courthouses, chambers for judges, residences and administration offices in order for the public to enjoy ready access to justice.
 The Chief Justice commended the government for lending support to the infrastructural development in the Judicial Service, noting that the new automated court facility funded by Government of Ghana would house specialized courts such as Law Courts, Human Rights Court, Industrial (Labour) Court, Economic Court and Financial-related Court and criminal matters.
The Chief Justice further explained that the Human Right Court would enhance the work of the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) by endorsing and enforcing the decision which hitherto was not self-enforcing.
Justice Georgina T. Wood noted that the magnificent edifice and others are proud monuments of government’s commitment to constitutionalism and the rule of law in Ghana and beyond.
She also revealed that the Judicial Service would commission a new Court of Appeal Complex in Kumasi which would serve the justice needs of the northern half of the country to facilitate processes of appeal and other specialized court litigants outside the national capital.
Justice Wood expressed her profound gratitude to Land and Administration Project (LAP) headed by Dr. Odame Larbi for providing equipment for the establishment and also paid homage to her predecessors for their initiatives in the construction of the new edifices.
The Attorney-General, Hon. Joe Ghartey, observed that the Supreme Court building represented the past while the new buildings represented the future with improved capacity, cooperation with other actors in the Justice System which would improve assess to Justice. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 04 November 2008 )
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