The Chief Justice declaring the facility open as the MCE and others look on
The Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo, has commissioned the Kotobabi District Court in the Ayawaso Central Municipality with a call on residents to desist from paying unauthorised fees for court services.
Interacting with residents during the inauguration, the Chief Justice said citizens were not required to pay unauthorised fees at the court except approved ones to officers at the court whenever they seek for services.
According to her, staff were employees of the Judicial Service and therefore not supposed to take any money from people who seek for justice from the judicial body as mandated by law.
She, therefore, asked residents not to hesitate to file complaints to appropriate court authorities whenever they encounter individuals or staff purporting to work with the court but engaged in such illegality.
She further urged the staff to exhibit a high level of professionalism in the discharge of their duties by assisting people with technicalities, especially as people who patronise its services may be physically and emotionally stressed.
The court, which was funded with the support of the District Assembly Common Fund, Ministry of Local Government as well as the Ayawaso Central Municipal Assembly, has an office space for the various court functions, washrooms for staff and court users.
Other facilities are male and female cells, solar power, a standby generator, a borehole to provide sustainable water supply for the washrooms, and a dedicated space for court connected ADR, while an electric fence will be erected to boost security.
She said a purpose-built court is a necessary addition to the infrastructure for peace and stability of any community.
She stated that all the reforms Judicial Service has embarked on in the last twenty years, including the computerisation and automation of the courts, are only effectively implemented in adequate physical infrastructure.
According to her, the challenge for appropriate infrastructure is especially acute at the district level, where the lack of access to justice could lead directly to loss of confidence in the tools of justice.
She, therefore, commended the Ayawaso Central Municipal Assembly for taking on the challenge to construct the court complex to address the justice needs of residents of Kotobabi and surrounding communities.
“Justice emanates from the people and shall be administered by the Judiciary. The administration of justice must therefore be brought to the doorsteps of citizens, so that they have recourse to it with the minimum of effort,” she pointed out.
Municipal Chief Executive of the Ayawaso Central Municipal Assembly, Archibold Mac Amoasie Cobbina, who described the establishment of the court as part of the decentralisation of justice, said it will go a long way to ease the burden of residents who had to travel long distances to parts of Accra to seek justice.
He said justice brought to the doorstep of the people to provide equal access to justice regardless of one’s social standing was the sure way of procuring social peace and security.
He, therefore, encouraged citizens to have confidence in the court administration and justice delivery system while assuring the public of the Assembly’s readiness to maintain the facility and continuously support the judicial system.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah