ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
The courts will sit from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm on working days and 8:30 am to 4:00 pm on Saturdays.
For the Greater Accra Region, District Court, Ashaiman, District Court, Teshie, District Court, Kasoa and this court, District Court, La, will operate as the Saturday courts while District Court, Weija, District Court, Sowutuom, District Court ‘2’, Adenta and District Court, Gbese will operate as the weekday afternoon courts.
For the Ashanti Region, District Court ‘2’, Asokwa and District Court ‘1’, Prempeh Assembly Hall will operate as the Saturday courts, while Circuit Court ‘2’, Asokwa and Asokwa Circuit Court Conference Hall will operate as the weekday afternoon courts.
It is our expectation that with the launch of these Small Claims Debt Recovery Courts and cooperation of citizens, and the businesses involved, the nation can confront head-on and in a speedy manner, the challenge of the nearly 55,000 claims that Quick Credit & Investment Micro-Credit Ltd alone has expressed the intention of filing in the Lower Courts,.
It is to be noted that though Quick Credit may have provoked this initiative, the courts are a national asset open to adjudicating claims from all financial institutions, in order that the time value of liquidated claims are not eroded by delays in the courts.
Indeed, the provision of Saturday courts have been operational for several years now, and serve primarily the needs of national agencies that need to recover sums of money from significant numbers of citizens and businesses such as SSNIT.
It is this already existing template that is being used for the small claims0 courts.
We recommend Quick Credit & Investment Micro-Credit Ltd for accepting to support the operation of these 12 pilot courts to enable them to perform their constitutional duty with speed and efficiency, just as SSNIT has supported the operation of Saturday courts for years.
I encourage all micro finance companies that require support of increased services to inform the Office of the Judicial Secretary to enable these extra hour courts to effectively serve the needs of the whole nation.
On this note it is my singular honour and pleasure to declare the Small Claims Debt Recovery Courts duly launched in the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions of Ghana.
May God bless us all and add his blessing to this initiative.
THE GENDER EQUALITY IN LAW CAMPAIGN OF THE INSTITUTE FOR AFRICAN WOMEN IN LAW CAMPAIGN MESSAGE By HONOURABLE LADY CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA, JUSTICE GERTRUDE SACKEY TORKORNOO 5 th July, 2024 Venue: Movenpick Ambassador Hotel, Accra Protocols Thank you very much for the honor of inviting me to open the Gender Equality in Law Campaign here in Accra.
I deeply appreciate the Institute for African Women in Law, its work, objectives, projects and achievement and so I am delighted to be part of what is commencing in Ghana today.
I salute all the lady lawyers and Judges and male champions who have lent not only their hearts, like me, to this campaign, but also their hands to support Professor Jarpa Dawuni’s team in IAWL to bring today’s event into fruition.
Thank you, one and all.
A campaign is an organized course of action to achieve a goal.
It demands that its activators work in an organized way, introducing several necessary interventions that are framed towards the objective and goals of the campaign.
And the issues of achieving a fair and healthy work place for both women and men are foundational and critical to achieving all the objectives of our constitutional democracy.
So the campaign to be launched today must never be perceived as one that seeks to bolster the needs of the female gender.
It is one that can only assist to strengthen the pillars of justice and the rule of law.
I recall with appreciation the strong voice introduced by the IAWL into the discourses of the Ghanaian judiciary from 2018 about the need to make more deliberate room for gender parity in the appointment of Judges, and Chief Justices.
That discourse continues to bear fruit, and I daresay that the voice of IAWL contributed to the destruction of barriers against the appointment of women Chief Justices in Ghana.
As should be well known, the first Chief Justice of the Gold Coast was Sir David Patrick Chambers, appointed in 1876.
It took more than one hundred and thirty years of male Chief Justices for the first female Chief Justice of Ghana to be appointed in 2007.
As disturbingly long as this was, it is important to clarify that the slow march of women’s involvement in the law only started from the early years of the march towards independence.
I get very restless when I come in touch with it ”, was the first Ghanaian woman to become a judge in Ghana, and the first female president of the Ghanaian Court of Appeal.
She joined the Ghanaian Bench as a Magistrate in 1953 and retired in 1983 as a Justice of the Court of Appeal.
This was more than a century after Sir Chambers became Chief Justice in the Gold Coast.
Another icon of this journey is Her Ladyship Justice Bamford-Addo who was the first female Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana and served on the apex court from 1991 until 2004, when she retired voluntarily.
Five years later, she was elected unopposed as the Speaker of the Fourth Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana.
Two years prior to Her Ladyship Bamford Addo making history as the first woman speaker of Parliament, and fifteen years after she had shattered the glass ceiling of becoming the first woman on the Supreme Court of Ghana, Her Ladyship Georgina Theodora Wood, had been installed as the first woman Chief Justice of the Republic, in 2007.
Seemingly imperceptibly but clearly, the tipping point on the end of the phenomenon of unequal gender representation in the legal and judicial sector of Ghana is happening.
In less than twenty years after the appointment of Chief Justice Wood, my presence as the third woman Chief Justice signifies a nation that has made room for women at the head of the administration of law in the nation.
Equally worthy of relating is the presence of Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu and Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah Oppong at the head of the Ministry of Justice from the years 2010.
From this modest history of women’s involvement in the formal legal system, and although it would seem that it took a time coming, Ghana now seems to be heading steadily towards a no holds barred journey when it comes to the contribution of women in the administration of law and justice.
There is a significantly increasing representation of women in Ghana’s Judiciary.
In 2019, the numbers of women Judges stood at 138.
This number had increased to more than a hundred more by the 2022/2023 Legal Year.
In that year, the Judiciary recorded a total of 218 females signifying an increase of approximately 58% in the numbers of women who joined the Judiciary within the four year period.
Ghana’s Judiciary is fast and strongly getting feminized and more and more women are driving the administration of justice.
Clearly, the strong gains made in the presence of women in the administration of law and justice in the nations must invite campaigns as is being launched today.
Achieving gender parity and fairness in the work place is a goal deserving of sustained campaigns, and the surge of women in the work space of the law must be enabled and guided to provide a stronger, healthier, and more beneficial legal and judicial sector that realizes the rule of law for the entire community.
The work model of IAWL in activating evidence-based research to identify the points of weakness in institutional practices and policies that challenge the positive development of the careers of women in the legal space, as well as the actualization of their leadership potential is the critical tool needed by policy makers, the nation that the sector serves, and the legal community itself to shape the best trajectories for administration of justice.
With the evidence realized, stakeholder engagement and public advocacy to ignite needed policy reforms are also the very tools required for compelling needed change.
Stake holder engagements assist to bring out all the variants of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that can drive or stultify needed change.
Knowing them, and addressing them with critical initiatives and interventions are the required actions that will produce change.
Organizations such as the IAWL who are committed and focused on driving the agenda of gender equality and seeking the best interests of women in law therefore provide the most critical partnerships that leadership need and I unhesitatingly lend my heart and hand to your work in Ghana.
Should gender parity in the administration of law and justice in the nation make a difference in the quality of justice delivery for Ghana.
I unreservedly believe so.
The reasons are simple.
First, women undeniably make up half of humanity.
The fifth out of seventeen goals settled as the Sustainable Development Goals of our world, launched in 2015 by the United Nation is the goal of gender equality.
If work places are to express the natural order of human living, where both men and women have the same opportunities, there will no doubt be the maximum productivity required to produce the peaceful and sustainable development envisaged by the United Nations in crafting the Sustainable Development Goals.
The SDG Goal number 16 of achieving Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions and the African Union Agenda 2063 Goal # 17 of Gender Equality express the same objectives.
Any nation therefore that refuses the contributions, or indeed does not actively work for and nurture the contribution of women in social, economic and national development is fighting, as it were, with one arm behind its back.
To deny women the opportunities to thrive and offer their best to the nation is not only to weaken the attainment of their fundamental right to work supported by article 24 of the 1992 Constitution, but also to deprive the nation of the talent, abilities and unique sills and values that women bring to the work place.
Two months ago, on April 8 th , I had the privilege of launching my vision for my tenure as leader of the Judiciary, Judicial Service of Ghana and justice sector of the nation.
I captioned it ‘LEADing Justice, a Strategic Framework For Increasing legality, ethics, assets, digitalization and due process’ in justice delivery.
My intention and work focus is to assiduously incorporate in institutional decision making, operational planning and delivery, deliberate steps to incorporate these five critical elements of law, ethical content, asset management, and digitalization for efficient justice delivery in our current times.
These deliberately set goals will not only help to guide work, but also measure progress in the achievement of the desired changes for intellectual depth in work, skill guidance towards diligence and integrity, and use of available tools for efficient and effective justice delivery, instead of outdated manual models of work.
My hope is that as justice delivery becomes guided with greater efficiency, women will feel enabled to give their best, despite the peculiar challenges that we face in our roles as child bearers and primary care givers of the human race.
It must be recognized that women in law and leadership continue to face unnecessary and daunting challenges on account of their gender.
Gender bias, toxic approaches to competition in the social and work space often cause women to recoil from striving.
Negative comments and stereotypes can take a toll on mental health and self-esteem.
Deliberate distortion of altruistic intentions when a leader proposes change can all affect the desire to persist in putting out our best.
Nevertheless, we must remain steadfast in the commitment to law and justice, undeterred by external pressures.
The inescapable reality is that the current workplace, particularly in the context of the Judiciary, was primarily conceived and constructed without an awareness of the needs of working women.
It is therefore incumbent upon women leaders to shape working spaces to better reflect the diverse needs of both gender.
Robust strategies must be formulated for resilience that allow the female presence to endure and give of its best to the judicial system and the legal profession.
The commitment to transforming the workplace into a more inclusive and equitable environment extends beyond any generation.
Our current generation bears a profound responsibility to the younger generations of women who are watching and learning from our example, just as the Annie Jiagge’s, Joyce Bamford Addo’s and Georgina Wood’s have caused us to see that there is always room to excel, and sit at the top.
The obligation is not only to pave the way for the next generation, but also to make that path smoother and more accessible by breaking down the barriers, biases and outdated structures hindering prosperous working spaces by deliberate campaigns such as the work of IAWL expresses.
I must heartily commend the IAWL for setting itself up to support the work of formidable women in law across Africa and the African diaspora, and staying true and committed to its goal of becoming the focal point for addressing their challenges and issues.
On this note, it is my greatest honour and pleasure to declare the Gender Equality in Law Campaign duly open.
SPEECH BY HER LADYSHIP THE CHIEF JUSTICE ON THE OPENING OF THE 2024/2025 ANNUAL GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE GHANA BAR ASSOCIATION Date: 9 th September 2024 Venue: GREAT HALL, KNUST KUMASI Your Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo Your Royal Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11, King of the Ashanti kingdom, Nananom and NanaAhemaa herein present, The Vice Chancellor, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Members of the Council of State Honorable Godfred Yeboah Dame, Attorney General and Minister of Justice The Regional Minister of Ashanti Region, Honorable Simon Osei Mensah Honorable Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Members of Parliament present, MMDCEs, Heads of Security Agency My Lords of the Superior Courts, Eminent Clergy, Law Deans, Director of Legal Education, National and Regional Executives of the Ghana Bar Association, distinguished ladies and gentlemen I am greatly delighted to join you this morning to open the Annual Conference of the Ghana Bar Association.
The line-up of conference activities, spanning spiritual dedication, intellectual discourses and learning sessions, sporting activities, deliberations on emotionally disturbing issues, and the usual dancing sessions that remain unequalled in exhilaration, reflect the buoyant strength of the Ghana Bar.
Clearly, the Ghana Bar Association continues to grow from strength to strength.
Thank you for keeping the torch of excellence high.
The 2023-2024 legal year was a mountain top experience for me, following the passage of the responsibility of Chief Justice to me in June 2023.
Assuredly, God has been with me through this first year in office.
I have experienced the grace of good health, sound mind, and the cooperation of the Executive, the Legislature, the Judiciary, the Bar and the good people of Ghana.
I am extremely grateful and can only say it in what must be two of the most impactful, yet simplest words known to human vocabulary.
Your Excellency, Your Majesty, distinguished ladies and gentlemen’ the theme of this year’s Bar conference, ‘Peaceful, Fair and Transparent Elections: The Key to Sustainable Democracy’ speaks to what is on the heart of every Ghanaian.
The electoral process is a legal process.
It is conducted in accordance with a statutory framework.
Equally, there are settled legal norms for determining any disputes arising therefrom.
This requires that stakeholders come to the electoral process with full recognition and appreciation of the legal regimes surrounding it.
Who qualifies to stand as a candidate?
What makes a vote valid or invalid?
Which court has appropriate jurisdiction to settle an originating petition, or application invoking the supervisory jurisdiction of a court?
What is the proper procedure for commencing every type of claims?
The Judiciary has always played its part in the electoral process by not only resolving disputes over registration, disputes over parliamentary elections, and disputes over presidential elections, but also maintaining a standing Elections Management Committee chaired by a Supreme Court Judge that works actively with all relevant domestic and international organizations to respond to issues raised during and after the electoral process.
In every election cycle commencing with the opening of registration, this Committee tours the country training and overseeing the work of Judges adjudicating related disputes.
Since 2008, the Judiciary has also produced a compendium of relevant statute and case law as a guide for stakeholders.
This year, we have moved from the one volume compendium to a three volume compendium, allowing for a good sampling of the vast stock of jurisprudence that has developed from the thirty years of the Fourth Republic.
I believe that we will be ready to launch it in a few weeks so that stakeholders can familiarize themselves or refresh their memories with the material available.
In addition, the Rules of Court Committee has worked on amendments to the High Court Civil Procedure Rules CI 47 2004 to introduce dedicated rules on the resolution of parliamentary elections.
It was noted in previous election cycles that the absence of a dedicated time frame for resolution of parliamentary election disputes, and the subjecting of such disputes to the regular procedural rules of court led to horrendous abuse of the adjudicatory process.
These amendments seek to address this phenomenon and introduce further measures for expedited hearings such as electronic service of court processes.
Further amendment of the Supreme Court Rules CI 16, to improve the time frame for hearing presidential election petitions is also in progress.
My humble view, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, is that the relatively peaceful journey that the Fourth Republic has been, is anchored on this consistent addressing of weaknesses found in every election cycle.
But as we know, sustaining a democracy calls for more than election cycles.
It calls for building strong institutions as well as a population that is committed to the rule of law, whether people function as political activists, media activists or legal activists.
As long as actors in the electoral process commit themselves to honor legality over private determinations, our democracy can only grow from strength to strength.
Your Excellency, Your Majesty, Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, we will all agree that law is the fundamental infrastructure of society.
It is needed to plan cities, towns and houses.
It is needed to guide the management of rivers, forests and every form of human habitat.
It is needed to determine and define governance structures for society – whether as arms of government, institutional, corporate, or traditional governance, and it is needed to guide every form of human relations, from family, commerce to justice administration.
To quote Roscoe Pound, justice is always according to law.
Soon after I took office, I crafted a vision statement to guide my leadership journey as Chief Justice and to enable all stake holders to work with me towards defined goals.
On 8 th April 2024, I presented this vision statement at the LEADing Justice conference.
LEAD is an acronym for Law, Ethics, Assets, Digitalization and Due Process.
My expectation is that when we, as lawyers, judges, law faculties, Nananom, and all stakeholders in justice administration work together to increase the culture of legality, ethical conduct, and development of critical infrastructure such as digital tools for the mandate entrusted to us, we will achieve the efficiency and just outcomes that the nation deserves.
Although all personnel that support the justice delivery function of the judiciary are experts in different fields, more than 99% of our supporting directorates, officers and staff do not have the requisite training on consideration of what affects legality, due process and validity of court processes and proceedings.
So it is, with the supporting staff of law offices and legal departments of other institutions.
It is from this perspective that apart from resolutely leading the development of manuals, guides and directions for court processes and proceedings, I also set the Judicial Training Institute the task of producing curriculum for paralegal training of all Judicial Service staff.
The first batch of this material is ready for use and we are preparing more faculty members to assist in delivering consistent training for all our 7000 plus staff.
I am excitedly looking forward to staff of Judicial Service becoming properly trained paralegal secretaries, paralegal accounting personal, and registrars who are equipped as judicial officers, as is the norm in many jurisdictions.
I also note other private paralegal training initiatives and the paralegal program at the Legal Aid Commission and with the Ghana Prison Service, to expedite processing of representation for persons unfortunate to find themselves within the grips of criminal charges.
I wish to take this opportunity, as Chair of the General Legal Council, to invite the Bar, Academia, Corporate Ghana, and Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), to work with the General Legal Council to mainstream paralegal training into appropriate national learning programs so that non-lawyers who work in law firms, legal departments, and institutions that must produce legally valid processes and documentation, are properly equipped to support the work of the legal profession.
Clearly, it is more than high time for us as a nation dedicated to the rule of law, to take a very close look at how we can increase the deepening of knowledge of law and legality, with the attendant culture of choosing validity and due process over arbitrary activities that lead to corruption of public processes.
Your Excellency, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the issue of ethical conduct, is a matter that seems to threaten and torment each part of our nation.
In the courts, we have been confronted with syndicates working to produce fake marriage and fake divorce and other certificates for persons who seek them for purposes other than lawful and credible reasons.
Very active steps are being taken to uncover and stem these practices, and I thank the Ghana Police Service for their work.
I would like to encourage all persons to help Judicial management to stamp out such practices, that only go to hurt the reputation of Ghana as an investment destination.
It is also necessary for all stakeholders in the law and the nation to appreciate that these unethical practices are found in the preparation of land indentures and other documentation by persons who have no legal training or understanding of what makes for validity.
These documents often turn out to be un-registrable, leading to extreme frustration of investors in realizing investment made in immovable property, as well as intractable litigation over land.
It is my hope that when we work together to deepen knowledge on legality, threats to the rule of law that citizens labor under daily will be lessened.
On the issue of ethics, I must very unhappily refer to the consistently increasing numbers of lawyers that are referred to the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council for unethical practices against their clients.
The General Legal Council is actively engaging the Council of Law Deans, concerning the mainstreaming of the study of legal ethics at the faculty level.
There seems to be the untoward notion that the law is a route to becoming rich early.
However, as officers and guardians of law, I implore lawyers to appreciate their sacred role and reduce the treatment of the law only as an avenue for wealth creation.
Lawyers are expected to guide their work towards just outcomes, and nothing more.