Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo
The Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo, has announced the resumption of sitting by the Court of Appeal in all regions across the country.
The move is to bring access to justice closer to Ghanaians in all parts of the country, cutting down cost and time involved in travelling to either Accra or Kumasi for appeals in civil cases.
Addressing members of the Judicial Press Corps in Accra yesterday, the Chief Justice indicated that the Court of Appeal started sitting around the country – Tamale, Kumasi, Cape Coast, Ho and Koforidua and this had been going on for years until it was curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
This, she said, resulted in a major number of judges being sent to Kumasi, leading to the Ashanti Region now having a permanent sitting of the Court of Appeal in Kumasi.
She said data available to the Judicial Service indicate that the cases emanating from the Central and Western regions were even more than the cases emanating from the northern part of Ghana, so there is a real need to resume the sitting of the Court of Appeal in the Central and Western parts of Ghana.
The cases from the Volta and Eastern regions are, however lower, averaging 60 per year, but the Chief Justice said that notwithstanding, “asking someone to come from Afram Plains to Accra, I don’t think is right and so we will reopen the sitting of the Court of Appeal in Koforidua, we will reopen the sitting of the Court of Appeal in the Volta Region.”
Justice Torkornoo noticed a peculiar situation when it comes to the Court of Appeal in Tamale, indicating that although there are Court of Appeal judges in Kumasi, there is no direct flight between Kumasi and Tamale, and the journey between Tamale and Kumasi is quite arduous, hence it will be counterproductive for judges in Kumasi to be travelling to Tamale to hear cases on appeal.
Arrangement
Per the arrangement, structures are being put in place to have the Court of Appeal in Kumasi to sit virtually to attend to cases from Tamale and the Northern and Upper regions of the country.
The Chief Justice said the Court of Appeal in Kumasi will serve Ashanti, Bono East, Bono and Ahafo regions, and cases on appeal from Western North will go to Kumasi because of proximity.
“The Court of Appeal for Central and Western regions would be reopened in Sekondi and not Cape Coast where the court used to sit, and this is because the court facilities in Cape Coast in the Central Region have deteriorated,” Justice Torkorno indicated.
She disclosed that a lot of consultations have gone into this decision, adding that “we have spoken with Parliament, the Bar, with so many different stakeholders to arrive at this.”
She also indicated that the Court of Appeal for the Northern belt – Savannah, Upper East, Upper West, North East and Northern regions would be reopened via a satellite registry in Tamale and they will be heard virtually from Kumasi.
The Court of Appeal in Koforidua will be reopened to serve three regions – Oti, Volta and Eastern regions and necessary administrative processes and procedures are being followed to ensure that all the reopened courts can start sitting sometime in April, Justice Torkornoo added.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak