The students, representing African, US and Caribbean tertiary education institutions learned about the Judicial Service’s Court Connected Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) programme, which helps dispose of case load faster – allowing parties to settle amicably without lengthy procedures that pertain to court room litigation.
The Ag. Chief Justice highlighted challenges facing the Judiciary, including delays in justice delivery due to inadequate resources, high caseloads for courts and inadequate Judges to man the courts. He revealed that currently 70 courts are without permanent Magistrates. He stressed the need for more lawyers to join the Bench.
The Ag. Chief Justice making a point at the meeting
The Ag. Chief Justice mentioned efforts to address these challenges through the deployment of the e-justice system for efficient case management and electronic case tracking system for real-time updates on status of criminal cases and regular training for the Bench and judicial officers.
Present at the meeting were some Justices of the Supreme Court including the Acting Director of the Judicial Training Institute, His Lordship Justice Issifu, Omoro Tanko Amadu and His Lordship Justice Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi.
The Justices encouraged the law students to promote ADR practices in their future careers and foster international cooperation in justice sector development.
Justice Samuel Adibu Asiedu, JSC speaking at the meeting
The visit aimed to strengthen ties between Ghana’s Judiciary and international law schools in terms of capacity building, to share best practices in justice delivery and ADR and to inspire future lawyers to pursue careers in public service.
Justice Sir Dennis Dominic Adjei, JSC making some remarks.