Legal practitioner and member of the NPP, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko has stated that Ghanaians have lost interest in the country’s judicial system.
He believes that this apparent apathy from Ghanaians towards the third arm of government necessitated reforms in Ghana’s judiciary.
Gabby Okyere-Darko described the country’s judicial system as being beset with numerous issues which according to him have contributed to affect the dispensation of justice.
Key among the issues confronting the judiciary raised by Gabby Otchere-Darko was the limited number of lawyers at the Attorney General’s department. This challenge, he again cited has led to the numerous adjournments of cases at the various courts.
Commenting on the recent allegation of corruption scandal that has hit the judiciary which has also sparked a lot of public row, the Executive Director of the Danquah Institute was of the opinion that implementing some institutional reforms at the Attorney General’s department will help in improving the country’s judicial system and eventually avert some of the circumstances leading to the alleged cases of corruption among Judges.
Meanwhile he has also criticized the practice whereby judges have contributed to the pressure at the country’s prisons.
This he explains has been influenced by the virtual absence of alternatives in pronouncing punishment on culprits trialed in courts.
For his part, anti-corruption crusader Sydney Casely Hayford was of the view that it will cost the country less to undertake a reform than to continue with the system of keeping people on remand for longer periods of time before judgement.
