The Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood, has admonished staff of the Judicial Service to not indulge in practices that undermine the delivery of justice.
She said although their conditions of service were not the best, that must not provide them with an incentive to be corrupt.
Addressing the 4th edition of the Chief Justice’s Forum in Takoradi yesterday, Justice Wood said corruption weakened the Judiciary and robbed it of its institutional capacity, a situation which did not augur well for national development.
The forum was on the theme, “Integrity-the key to effective justice delivery”.
Justice Wood pointed out that corruption was the main obstacle to peace, stability, sustainable development, democracy and human rights.
Corrupt activities
Speaking on specific issues, Justice Wood said it was unjustifiable for dockets to go missing only for them to re-appear later because a lawyer offered a tip. She also questioned why some staff used various tricks to extort monies from people who went to the courts to seek justice, “sometimes to the extent of robbing the public who have come to seek justice from the people they have been mandated to protect from injustice”.
The Chief Justice questioned why some staff members of the service tricked people into paying monies to be supposedly used to bribe judges, wondering whether in doing so, the culprits realised the damage they caused to the credibility and reputation of the judges who might never receive the bribe money.
She indicated that some members of staff even pretended to be lawyers and by that condoned the activities of “goro boys” within the courts’ premises, adding that it was sad that the staff members failed to realise that they had the responsibility to expose the evil activities within the court environment where justice must be served without fear or favour.
The Chief Justice pointed out that every staff member of the Judicial Service had the responsibility to fight to restore the proud and enviable image of the service and said it was, therefore, important for them to reflect and ask themselves if they were providing true and proper service to the people whose taxes were used to pay their salaries.
Justice Wood also said they had the responsibility to expose the evil activities within the court environment, “where justice must be served without fear or favour”.
Petitions/Afro-barometer report
Justice Wood made it known that the Judicial Service received petitions with adverse findings against some members of staff and management, and added that the Judiciary took serious exception to those petitions, especially when they were backed by evidence.
Making reference to an Afro-barometer report released in December 2014, she said the findings stated that majority of Ghanaians perceived corruption among judges and magistrates to be 85 per cent.
“I believe that we have no moral right to question the integrity of the people who appear before us, as judges and magistrates, when we ourselves cannot pass the integrity test,” she stressed.
She said irrespective of the fact that the report measured perception of corruption and not the reality, it hurt the image of the judicial system locally and internationally.
For his part, the President of the Ghana Bar Association, Nene Amegatcher, who was the chairman of the session, said over the past few months the country’s media had been agog with reports of actual and perceived integrity crises in the various segments of society.
He said the desire to make quick money and by whatever means possible was bringing huge social cost and untold hardship to the poor in society. - See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/38302-cj-chastises-judicial-service-staff.html#sthash.bCQEtYvR.dpuf
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