President Akufo-Addo says his administration has made unprecedented progress in the provision of court buildings and residences for judges around the country.
He noted that the record he had chalked up in the provision of infrastructure for the judiciary is unmatched.
Delivering his last State of the Nation Address on February 27, 2024, the president said out of the 100 courthouses and residential facilities the government embarked on in 2020, 67 of them have been completed and inaugurated.
The remaining projects he disclosed are at various stages of completion.
“We have made unprecedented progress in the provision of court buildings and residences for judges around the country. In 2020, Government set out to construct one hundred (100) courthouses with residential facilities nationwide. As at 31st January 2024, sixty-seven (67) courthouses had been successfully inaugurated, and are in use at various sites around the country. Twelve (12) completed projects have been slated for inauguration by the end of this month of February 2024. The remaining twenty-one (21) projects are at various stages of completion, and are expected to be completed and inaugurated before May 2024.
He further disclosed that 121 residential units have been constructed for judges throughout the country.
He said his administration has done enough to resolve the issue of “disgraceful court buildings” across the country.
“In addition, one hundred and twenty-one (121) residential units have been constructed for judges throughout the country. Further, twenty (20) fully furnished 4-bedroom units, together with social amenities, have been constructed for Justices of the Court of Appeal in Kumasi.
The project is not complete yet, but we have done enough to be able to say that we have resolved the problem of the disgraceful state of court buildings. The attention now is to the digitalisation process of the courts to modernise the entire system.”
He went on to state that over the past year, a total of seventy-six (76) Judges and Magistrates were appointed. They comprised a new Chief Justice, two (2) new Justices of the Supreme Court, twenty-three (23) new High Court Judges, twenty-nine (29) new Circuit Court Judges, and twenty-one (21) new Magistrates.
Two hundred and sixty-two (262) staff were recruited to address some of the human resource gaps created because of the newly established courts throughout the country. In January 2024, three (3) additional Justices have been appointed to the Supreme Court to replace three (3) Justices who have retired from the Court”, he added.
He said “The Judicial Service has undertaken a digitalisation initiative to modernise legal operations, and foster greater access to justice. A virtual court system was introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the continuity of business. The virtual court system was rolled out to seventeen (17) courts, and then, subsequently, to nineteen (19) High Courts for the smooth hearing of court cases. By the end of December 2023, one hundred and sixty (160) courts had been equipped with devices for the real-time transcription of cases, in addition to fifty-one (51) courts piloting the paperless court system in Accra. The integration of real-time transcription devices in one hundred and sixty (160) courts has revolutionised the way in which court proceedings are recorded and documented. The service is rolling out a comprehensive digitalisation of the court system.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
