Bringing justice to the people

The Chief Justice has once again bemoaned the inadequacies in the court system and its inability to dispose of critical cases justly.

Justice delayed is justice denied, they say. If cases are adjourned persistently in an environment where not all the  district capitals have court facilities, then the rule of law will be at risk.

Some people may frown on litigants who overburden judges, resulting in prolonged adjudication of even minor cases that can be resolved through the alternative dispute resolution mechanism.

But we need to encourage people who feel aggrieved to resort to the court system, instead of self-help that has the tendency to disturb peaceful co-existence.

Litigation is time-consuming and expensive, but it pays to avoid the situation where society encourages the policy of survival of the fittest.

When might is right in any society, hell breaks loose; there is confusion, and that reduces our environment to that of the jungle where there is no law and order.

Opening the criminal justice system conference 2013 in Accra last Thursday, the Chief Justice made reference to a number of sophisticated crimes, adding that if the deficiencies in the criminal

justice system were not addressed, they would lead to the gradual erosion of confidence in the system.

Mrs Justice Georgina Wood hit the nail right on the head, but as the head of the Judiciary, the buck stops on her desk.

So far, she has taken certain steps to have justice on the doorstep of the people by opening more high courts and courts of Appeal.

The Daily Graphic thinks that the country can continue to be the reference point for peace if we uphold the right of individuals to legal rules and not the arbitrary behaviour of those in authority.

We know that it is a court of law that decides on punishment when there is a breach of the law. Therefore, everybody, regardless of his or her position in society, is subject to the law.

Aristotle said more than 2,000 years ago that “the rule of law is better than any individual”.

It is for this reason that the Daily Graphic calls on the Judiciary to do everything within its power to establish a governance system based on non-arbitrary rule, as opposed to one based on the power and whims of an absolute ruler.

We think that one useful lesson to learn from the ongoing election petition, although there are divergent opinions on the relevance of the case, is that it has helped to affirm the supremacy of the rule of law where the justices have tamed rustic voices on the airwaves.

The Daily Graphic calls on Ghanaians to imbibe the definition of the rule of law by the United Nations (UN) Secretary General as “a preamble of governance in which all persons and institutions and entities, public and private, including the state itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated …”.

We are happy the Judiciary has jealously guarded its independence so far, to the extent that some sensitive cases have gone against the government.

But we need reforms that will make our courts more user-friendly.