Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo
The Chief Justice (CJ), Sophia Akuffo, has stressed the need for standardized courts across the country so that any stranger who comes to any community can easily identify the courts.
She has therefore directed the Wassa East District Assembly in the Western Region to use a newly refurbished magistrate court for either a library or for a communal purpose.
She explained that the facility was below the requisite standard of the judicial service and lacked the confidentiality that a court needed.
The CJ made the observation in an interaction with the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Wassa East, Wilson Arthur, as part of her six-day tour of the Western Region to acquaint herself with problems and challenges facing the judicial system in the region.
She told the DCE: “This is not the court we want and so you should already be thinking of relocation and then you do it the way we want it. A court facility should be at a place that has to be confidential. With the current facility, the offices are too exposed to the public.”
She explained that the court did not have the confidentiality it was expected to have since most offices were so opened, particularly the office of the court registrar.
The CJ therefore gave the Wassa East District Assembly by the end of February 2019 to give her feedback on the reconstruction of a new magistrate court. “I will give you up to February ending to come and tell me your plans on the reconstruction of a new court,” she pointed out.
The DCE told the CJ that he would use the place for a police station and later think of how to mobilize funds to build a befitting court.
“The building was built quite recently and we inherited it. When we came, it was in a bad state but we renovated and furnished it and we thought it was one of the best court houses in Ghana so I was expecting the Chief Justice to say that your place is better than a high court,” he remarked.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Daboase