A section of the public is calling on the Judicial Service of Ghana (JUSAG) to establish more courts at the district level to enable the courts to expedite action on cases.
They explained it was costly to travel to the districts to seek justice at the courts, saying this was eating deep into their pockets through court adjournments, denying the poor access to justice.
These were some concerns raised at a day’s outreach programme organised by the Judicial Service at Nsoatre in the West municipality of the Bono Region yesterday.
The forum, on the theme “Strengthening access to justice in our courts and making them user-friendly”, seeks to empower the participants and certain misconceptions about the operations of the courts by members of the public.
Mr Justice Eric Kyei Baffour of the Sunyani High Court appealed to members of the public to show keen interest in the activities of the court in order not to fall prey to unscrupulous persons within the service who may want to take advantage over them.
He explained that it was wrong for anyone to pay bribe or staff of JUSAG to demand moneys in their attempt to seek justice at the court.
He urged the participants to report such persons to the Public Relations unit of JUSAG at the various regional offices for redress.
The participants were schooled on various topics such as criminal offences, spousal rights to property, court processes among others.
The Municipal Chief Executive of Sunyani West, Mr Martin Obeng said the area with a population of about ninty five thousand has only two courts serving the people and added to the call for more courts to increase access to justice to the people.
Nana Gyamfi Baffour Awuah, Ankobiahene of the Nsoatre traditional Council who chaired the function thanked the Judicial Service for the programme and asked for more of such fora in order to empower the people about the courts at the local level.
FROM DANIEL DZIRASAH, SUNYANI
