Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo.
Judges and magistrates of the lower courts in the country have called off their intended industrial action following an intervention by the Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo.
On March 12, 2018, they served notice to withdraw their services if by March 21 the government had not improved their conditions of service.
DAILY GUIDE has gathered that the judges and the magistrates had resolved to rescind their decision because of what they believe to be a significant breakthrough the Chief Justice (CJ) had made with the government in resolving the issue.
Sources have disclosed that the CJ had met the president and other relevant stakeholders over the matter.
A visit to some lower courts in Accra by this paper revealed that the lower bench was present and hearing cases.
In a letter addressed to the Chief Justice and the Chief of Staff at the Office of the President, the legal brains maintained that the government had refused to pay them their new salaries as proposed by the Judicial Council in 2016 and approved by parliament in the 2018 budget.
The letter blamed the government for “shifting goal posts regarding agreed positions on specific issues at previous meetings and employed certain manoeuvres and given various excuses to delay the lower bench of what is rightfully ours.”
They had also decided to withdraw from further salary negotiations because after meeting several times with the Joint Judicial Council and Government Negotiating Team – between February 26 and March 2, 2018 – nothing concrete had been achieved.
In the letter, which was copied to the Chief Justice, Judicial Council, Chief of Staff and the ministry of finance, among others, the lower bench recounted that historically, their dealings with the ministry since 2013 had been characterised by “deliberate invention of errors and mistakes, withdrawal of salaries, reduction in salaries and delay tactics. We find that these actions of the government are a violation of Article 149 of the 1992 Constitution.”
The judges and magistrates have, therefore, called for immediate payment of the 2016 salaries, captured in the 2018 budget and approved by parliament.
Quite recently, the Chief Justice noted that the sizeable part of funding is given to the Executive and the Legislature whiles the Judiciary is left to its fate, with peanut funding, which is not enough to run its (Judiciary’s) affairs.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak