I’ll protect integrity of Judiciary - Justice Sophia Akuffo
Article Index
The Chief Justice nominee, Justice Sophia Akuffo, has promised to crack the whip to ensure the integrity of the Judiciary and the delivery of quality justice for all.
Advertisement
In that regard, she said she would take disciplinary action against judges and staff of the Judicial Service who would engage in corruption in the administration of justice.
Answering questions before the Appointments Committee of Parliament (ACP) Friday, she said her office would deal with the offending judges and staff without favour or selectivity in a transparent manner.
Ms Justice Akuffo said her vision was to have quality justice delivered by quality judges in accordance with the law.
That, she said, would be anchored on the use of technology to ensure speedy adjudication of cases.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo nominated Ms Justice Akuffo as Chief Justice in accordance with Article 144 (1) of the 1992 Constitution, which provides that “the Chief Justice shall be appointed by the President, acting in consultation with the Council of State and with the approval of Parliament.”
Article 144 (2) provides that “the other Supreme Court justices shall be appointed by the President, acting on the advice of the Judicial Council, in consultation with the Council of State and with the approval of Parliament.”
Consistent with the 1992 Constitution, the President wrote a letter to the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye, informing him about the nomination of Ms Justice Akuffo for the position of Chief Justice.
Consequently, the Speaker of Parliament referred the President's nominee for Chief Justice to the ACP for consideration and report.
Friday’s vetting was a novelty as the chairmen and ranking members of the Parliamentary, Legal and Constitutional Affairs and Judicial committees were invited to take part in the process.
Justices of the Supreme Court and members of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) were there to show solidarity to Ms Justice Akuffo.
If approved, Justice Akuffo will take over from Mrs Justice Wood, who retired on June 8, 2017, after 10 years as Chief Justice and 47 years in public service.
The vetting was originally slated for Monday, June 19, 2017 but was brought forward to yesterday to prevent any long period of vacuum that could be created by the retirement of Justice Mrs Wood.
A period of 14 days was given to the public to file any petition challenging the nomination of the new Chief Justice but, according to Mr Osei Wusu, no petition had been submitted to the ACP yet.
Justice Akuffo, who has a master’s degree in Law (LLM) from the University of Harvard in the United States of America (USA), has been a justice of the Supreme Court since 1995.
Integrity of the Judiciary
Justice Akuffo said there were perceptions about corruption in the judiciary and that the difficulty in dealing with the allegation of corruption against judges was that the complainants disappeared along the way.
In her view, the new way of handling such cases was to get written complaints.
Justice Akuffo said she would continue with the processes in place and initiate new ones to protect and enhance the integrity of the Judiciary.
"Everything to do with integrity and shoring up the image I would do. I will initiate measures and make those in place to work effectively," she said.
Justice Akuffo said she was interested in effectiveness as one of the characteristics of quality justice, and indicated she would make procedures and processes more open.
Automation
The Chief Justice nominee said she would ensure the automation of all district courts across the country.
She said she would enhance the application of technology to reduce the duration of hearing and completion of cases and reduce cost to the parties.
For instance, Justice Akuffo said, some of the processes could be conducted online, such as using Skype, Twitter or other forms of communication channels.
Besides, she said, the Judiciary could make use of solar energy to ensure the reliability of its operations.
Political influence
Justice Akuffo affirmed her resolve to ensure judges would insulate themselves from any external influence, including political, in the administration of justice.
She said there were many interventions that she would employ, including enforcing the code of conduct of judges.
Justice Akuffo expressed worry about the over-politicisation of everything in the country and called for an end to that practice.
"Everything is politicised excessively. It is one of the things we need to work on," she said.
Magistrates and judges
Justice Sophia Akuffo pledged to do a review of the current promotion arrangement of magistrates and judges at the lower courts.
She said she would make sure that promotion would be based on performance so that no one would be overlooked.
The Chief Justice nominee said there was a continuous process to review archaic laws and procedures and indicated that there was room to reform those out of date.
