All have role in ensuring justice......CJ

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday December 28,2006
The Chief Justice, Mr. George Kingsley Acquah, has said that the effort to ensure easy access to justice for all should not be continued to the judiciary alone.

“While the judiciary cannot be oblivious of its tremendous responsibilities in ensuring a smooth administration of justice, I will ask all stakeholders to participate fully in this effort since it is a collective responsibility,” he said.

Mr. Justice Acquah was speaking at the inauguration of a 20-member committee to research into a project dubbed Justice for all: Access to justice for the poor and vulnerable including women and children,” which is being sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The committee, chaired by supreme corut Judge Prof. Justice Modibo Ocran, was drawn from the judiciary, the Ghana Bar Association religious and civil society organizations, security institutions and the traditional authorities.

It is to undertake a nationwide research into the issues that impede the smooth administration of justice in Ghana especially with regards to the vulnerable.

The Chief Justice said “we recognize, as an institution that access to justice is vital to the survival of our democracy and the rule of law because when the poor, disadvantaged or the vulnerable are barred from accessing justice they take to mob violence and resort to extra-legal methods of administering justice.”

“He said respect for law and justice is diminished when large segments of society do not have equal and effective access to justice,” adding that access to justice is not all “academic notion” or “a vague ideal,” but a standard that must be set to make it attainable to all manner of persons in the country.

“We are determined to build a truly dependable, efficient and effective judicial institution, capable of carrying out its constitutional mandate to protect and consolidate the constitutional democracy and also to protect the rights of the poor and the vulnerable.”

Dr. Kwesi Appiah, Executive Director of Civic Foundation facilitators of the project said it intends to analyse the social demand for justice and the supply of justice services.

Respect for the right to justice requires democratic institutions, good governance and social accountability of justice delivery institutions,” he said.

Mr. Eric A. Opoku, a Governance Programme Officer of UNDP said the world body recognized that the issue of justice has a “close linkage to human development and poverty eradication,” the UNDP is committed to supporting such initiatives to promote sustainable development.