Otumfuo Osei Tutu flanked by Gloria Akuffo (left) and Justice Sophia Akuffo
The Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has questioned the quality of justice delivered by some judges in the country.
He made reference to the recent sentencing of members of the pro-New Patriotic Party (NPP) vigilante group, Delta Force by a court in Kumasi.
The Asantehene said with such judgements, people would not stop questioning the justice delivery system in the country.
He indicated that “Unfortunately for you, it takes only one case or few cases for the quality justice that you profess to deliver to be thrown into the wind. As you are all aware, the case under reference took place in this capital [Kumasi] where this year’s forum is taking place and cannot be ignored,” he said
The Asokwa District Court in Kumasi recently fined 13 members of the Delta Force group GH?1,800 each after they pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit crime and rioting behaviour.
They were also made to sign a bond to be of good behaviour for 12 months.
The members of the vigilante group were initially charged with assaulting a public officer and causing unlawful damage to property, but the charges were reviewed.
Speaking at this year’s Annual Chief Justice’s Forum in Kumasi yesterday, Otumfuo Osei Tutut declared that justice could not have been served in the case under reference if compared to a fine of GH?5,000 in addition to a jail term for a goat thief.
“No matter what view is held of judges, it cannot be denied that the judiciary has no control over how we, the public, feel or what ought not to be felt, what to perceive and what ought not to be perceived, what to hear or what ought not to be heard, and what to believe and what ought not to be believed,” the Asantehene stated.
According to him, the justice delivery system cannot be considered in the abstract, adding that “we are at the receiving end for whom, justice is intended to serve. It is the standard of the beneficiaries of justice that the quality is measured. Whether what the judge does in his justice delivery functions is qualitative or not is determined by us, the beneficiaries.”
The 16th edition of the forum was held under the theme: “Quality Judges, Delivering Quality Justice.
It brought together members from the bench and the bar at different levels of the justice system and was graced by the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah and his counterpart at the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice, Gloria Afua Akuffo.
Chief Justice, Justice Sophia Akuffo, said to dilute the quality of the judiciary would mean to erect a milestone on the road to perdition, but added that merit and diversity are not mutually exclusive.
She reiterated her commitment to ensuring that proper tools, which help judges to deliver quality justice, are made available.
The Chief Justice said she would use her tenure to promote first class judicial service.
According to her, since the effective functioning of the judicial service is dependent on the quality of judges, staff and general resources, judicial polices and administrative measures would give sufficient attention for the development of human resources of the service.
“It is important that policies are developed to promote knowledge sharing among judges and staff of the judicial service,” she added.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi