The Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, says institutions of justice delivery and their processes must not only have integrity but must be perceived to be credible.
She said they were required to ensure that all their processes were transparent and administered in conformity to rules.
“It does not matter how well resourced any libraries, courts, law chambers or institutions necessary for the excellent administration of justice are, if the people managing the legal system do not have a commitment to fidelity, truth, coherent and wholesome outcomes, the nation does not have an assurance of accessing justice,” she said.
In a speech read on her behalf at the 56th annual law week celebration of the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the Ghana School of Law (GSL), Mrs Wood said, “Without integrity, there cannot be justice and without justice, society cannot sleep in peace.”
The address was delivered by a Justice of the Court of Appeal, Mrs Justice Gertrude Torkornoo.
The week-long event, which is being held on the theme: “Importance of integrity in justice delivery: the role of the bench and the bar,” was used to launch the SRC’s third journal.
Ethical conduct
The Chief Justice said when citizens did not trust every type of legal and law- enforcing institutions and perceived legal professionals as corrupt rather than adhering to the law they professed to enforce, “then it must be appreciated that access to justice has been endangered.”
“This is because they will not entrust us with their disputes,” she said. She added that when the citizens lost faith in the rule of law, they would choose to help themselves than spend money to engage the machinery of the administration of justice, saying that, “This becomes a threat to the peace and stability of the nation.”
She, therefore, suggested that the roles and work of every person in the justice delivery chain must exude and include “this all-important quality of integrity, candour, faithfulness, uprightness and a sense of morality’’.
“We have to begin to appreciate that imbuing our daily lives with a sense of morality, good conscience and ethics has become a matter of urgency,” the Chief Justice stated.
Deputy Speaker
The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Joe Ghartey, reiterated that integrity was an important element in the legal profession, especially today when integrity was sacrificed on the platform of political expedience.
“Today, everything is looked at with political lenses, regardless of the truth. The law should remain the foundation of society since without the law there is no society,” he said.
Uphold uprightness
In a speech read on her behalf, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong, said judges and lawyers were accountable to the aspiration of the people and must, therefore, be guided by integrity.
According to her, the role of the judge was a moral one and must be guided by a high sense of morality in dispensing justice, while lawyers must see themselves as trustees, who must be guided by integrity.
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