The Centre for Legitimacy and Rule of Law has expressed grave concern over the mounting human rights crisis and growing strain on the country’s justice system resulting from the ongoing industrial action by the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana.
The labour union commenced its nationwide strike on Monday, 2 November 2026, forcing all courts across the nation, save for the Supreme Court, to suspend sittings. The abrupt shutdown has severely disrupted judicial business and compounded an already overburdened court system plagued by chronic delays and constant adjournments.
Speaking in an exclusive interview on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM’s flagship news program, Nyankonton Mu Nsem, the Head of Legal at CLRL, Richard Amarh, highlighted the plight of over 2,000 individuals arrested by the Ghana Police Service since the industrial action began. He lamented that these detainees remain locked up in police cells without any opportunity for a judicial pronouncement on their bail or remand status.
“The fundamental human rights of over two thousand citizens are being directly compromised every single day this strike persists. We have individuals who were previously remanded with specific return dates now facing indefinite uncertainty, with no realistic prospect of accessing the courts to seek their freedom,” Richard Amarh stated.
To mitigate the escalating crisis and prevent further rights violations, the legal expert put forward key interventions for the leadership of the police service and the judiciary. He urged the Inspector General of Police to issue an immediate directive instructing all station investigators to grant police inquiry bail for minor offences, thereby easing the severe congestion in cells nationwide.
“We are calling directly on the Inspector General of Police to act decisively by directing investigators across all police stations to grant bail in all minor offences. This simple administrative step will prevent our already overcrowded cells from becoming humanitarian disasters during this stalemate,” he noted.
Additionally, Richard Amarh appealed to the Chief Justice to establish emergency specialised benches to handle urgent bail applications while the main courts remain inactive.
“The Chief Justice must urgently institute specialised courts panelled by High Court judges, with Circuit or District Court judges assisting as clerks or recorders, dedicated solely to hearing bail applications. This will ensure that the fundamental human rights of accused persons do not become completely elusive due to the ongoing dispute,” he proposed.
Beyond immediate executive and judicial remedies, CLRL called on Parliament to modernise the country’s legal framework by introducing a comprehensive Bails Act. The current bail regime relies on the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act of 1960, Act 30, supplemented largely by judicial practice over the decades.
Richard Amarh also appealed to the President of the Republic, alongside the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General, and the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, to treat the impasse as a matter of top national priority to bring the strike to a swift conclusion.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
