Supreme Court Judge, Yonny Kulendi, says the difficulty in justice delivery in the country can be reduced when agents including judges, magistrates and police experience life in Ghana’s prisons.
According to him, this will help to shape the way they contribute to administering justice and also appreciate it.
Justice Kulendi made the remarks at a sensitisation workshop on Ghana Case Tracking System in Accra on Thursday.
The system is used in tracking Ghana’s criminal justice sector.
The system has been designed, tested, piloted, and is currently being rolled out with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Touching on why the trial Judge in the Assin Central Member of Parliament, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong’s contempt case was asked to recuse himself, Justice Kulendi explained that the judge made a prejudicial statement which is an affront to justice delivery.
“If a judge announces from the beginning of a trial that an accused person will suffer a severe punishment; then there is a problem,” he bemoaned.
He added that such a pronouncement defies the laid down process of the court.
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Meanwhile, the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Specialist at USAID’s Justice Sector Support Activity, Samuel Kombian, shed light on challenges the justice delivery system is faced with.
He mentioned low public awareness and utilisation of Alternative Dispute Resolution options, high cost of access to justice, limited access to legal services largely by the marginalised, poor and vulnerable and low level of public confidence among others.