Some notable legal brains have upheld the perception that the country\u2019s judicial system is corrupt and stressed the need for the corrupt judges and staff of the Judicial Service to purge themselves of that perception to ensure the efficient delivery of justice to the people.<\/p>\n
Proceeding on the claim of having evidence and the assumption that \u201cthere is no smoke without fire\u201d, the lawyers and other speakers at a roundtable discussion in Accra on Friday, agreed that judicial corruption was now more of a reality than perception, given the overwhelming evidence that justice was delivered \u201cto the highest bidder\u201d.<\/p>\n
The speakers included the Executive Secretary of the Constitution Review Commission (CRC), Dr Raymond Atuguba; an official of the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General\u2019s Department, Dr B. I. Korray; the Director of the Legal Aid Scheme (LAS), Mr A.Y. Seini; an official of the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), Mr Abraham Amaliba, and the Chairman of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mr Laary Bimi.<\/p>\n
The roundtable discussion, held on the theme, \u201cThe Judiciary and the justice system\u201d, formed part of activities marking the 11th annual Constitution Week, under the auspices of the NCCE, on the theme, \u201cThe state of Ghana\u2019s democracy, 2011\u201d.<\/p>\n
Setting the tone for the discussion as the moderator, Dr Atuguba said there were real issues that made people believe the perception that judges were corrupt.<\/p>\n
According to him, having lived with a judge for some time, he witnessed numerous instances when people sent bribes to the judge he lived with at home but which bribes were rejected.<\/p>\n
In other instances, he said, some people who intended to give bribes to a judge living nearby missed their way and brought those bribes to his residence before being re-directed to the appropriate residential address.<\/p>\n
Dr Atuguba said given those instances and the humanity in judges, \u201cthere is nobody in the country who can convince me that judges do not take bribes\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSelling justice is, for me, one of the gravest crimes you can think of,\u201d he noted, adding, \u201cIt is important to know that the thirst for justice is deeper than the thirst for water.\u201d<\/p>\n
Making reference to a study he conducted in 2010 on court users and uses in Ghana, he said the corruption of the processes in the Judiciary was terrible, such that it could make one weep for Ghana.<\/p>\n
He said judges should, therefore, know that people would go every length to demand justice, adding that the fact that people believed rumours about judges being corrupt, whether rightly or wrongly, was bad enough.<\/p>\n
He said it was important for judges to live above reproach, such that the public would no longer believe the perception of corruption against them.<\/p>\n
Dr Atuguba called for measures to make judges accountable to the public, \u201cotherwise we may soon have a crisis on our hands one day\u201d.<\/p>\n
Taking his turn, Dr Korray said given the powers conferred on the Judiciary by the Constitution, he believed that contrary to public opinion that the President wielded enormous power, the Chief Justice was more powerful than the President.<\/p>\n
He said it is important therefore, for judges to always be careful to weigh the scale of justice evenly between the two parties in contention in order to ensure justice.<\/p>\n
He noted that the recent popularity of the alternative dispute resolution system was due to increasing mistrust in the judicial system.<\/p>\n
In his contribution, Mr Bimi observed that although the 1992 Constitution upheld the independence of the Judiciary, judges had failed to assert their independence and deliver justice to the people.<\/p>\n
He wondered what good purpose could be served for someone who had won a parliamentary election to be denied a seat in Parliament for four years, only for the court to finally declare him winner after the tenure of that Parliament had elapsed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope my Lordships will not see it as an attack on the Judiciary; it\u2019s just one way of improving the institution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For his part, Mr Seini described the consultation fee of GH\u00a2500 for counsel and the court filing fee as too exorbitant beyond the reach of the average Ghanaian, thereby undermining access to justice.<\/p>\n
Mr Amaliba said the Judiciary, as a public institution, was not above criticism, but pointed out that such criticism must be constructive and not one that scandalised the institution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
See more here:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some notable legal brains have upheld the perception that the country\u2019s judicial system is corrupt and stressed the need for the corrupt judges and staff of the Judicial Service to purge themselves of that perception to ensure the efficient delivery of justice to the people. Proceeding on the claim of having evidence and the assumption that \u201cthere is no smoke without fire\u201d, the lawyers and other speakers at a roundtable discussion in Accra on Friday, agreed that judicial corruption was now more of a reality than perception, given the overwhelming evidence that justice was delivered \u201cto the highest bidder\u201d. The speakers included the Executive Secretary of the Constitution Review Commission (CRC), Dr Raymond Atuguba; an official of the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General\u2019s Department, Dr B. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":407492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-416361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"yoast_head":"\n
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Proceeding on the claim of having evidence and the assumption that \u201cthere is no smoke without fire\u201d, the lawyers and other speakers at a roundtable discussion in Accra on Friday, agreed that judicial corruption was now more of a reality than perception, given the overwhelming evidence that justice was delivered \u201cto the highest bidder\u201d. 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