Judges, magistrates on warpath; They demand fuel, book/research allowances in arrears
The Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana (AMJG) has served notice on the government to pay its members their fuel and book/research allowances which have been in arrears for seven and two years, respectively.
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It cautioned that the association would go to the court as a last resort to address its grievances if the allowances were not paid within a reasonable time.
The President of the AMJG, Mr Justice Denis Adjei, served the notice at the 34th Annual General Meeting of the association in Accra yesterday.
He said at last year’s conference, it was resolved that the association should litigate over the allowances.
He said with the intervention of the Chief Justice, an approval was given and “a meeting was held with the President of the Republic of Ghana to ensure prompt payment, but payment has not yet been effected”.
He said it was sad that the book/research allowance which had not seen any increment since its introduction had been in arrears for two years.
“We are calling on the President to pay the fuel and book/research allowances within a reasonable time to avoid a legal suit, which is the last resort to address our grievance,” Mr Justice Adjei said.
He said members of the association had been pushed to the wall and that the time had come for them to use judicial means to recover allowances lawfully due them.
“All public officials who use official vehicles are given fuel by the state and it is incredible for judges to use official vehicles and buy their own fuel,” he added
He said in addition to that, they had not received any salary increase for the past two years, while fuel prices had been increased by over 200 per cent within the period under review.
“The tradition has been that judges do not express opinion on their legitimate demands but the time is up for us to make lawful demands,” he added.
Assembly Press
Mr Justice Adjei said he was surprised that the Assembly Press continued to sell to the public unrevised and amended laws.
He said the laws sold by the Assembly Press as current laws did not represent the present state of the law.
Consequently, he called on the minister responsible for the Assembly Press to, as a matter of urgency; ensure that the press sold current laws.
“It cannot continue to sell repealed and unconsolidated laws to deceive members of the legal profession and the public,” he added.
Image of Judiciary
The Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, admonished judges and magistrates to uphold the principles of integrity and honesty in the dispensation of justice.
She urged them to be desirous of working to build a well-respected Judiciary richly endowed with the highest standards of judicial accountability and transparency, exemplified in the judicial virtues of probity, integrity and impartiality to the rule of law.
She said the sovereign people of Ghana, from and through whom judges derived judicial authority, expected nothing less.
“Indeed, these are the values we must hold in high esteem and strive earnestly to deepen, so we can earn the trust, respect and confidence of our countrymen and women,” she added.
Assurance & concerns
Mrs Justice Wood gave an assurance that her administration would continue to strive to provide judges and magistrates with the skills, tools and the correct working environment to thrive and be productive.
She said her administration would work to invest more resources into refurbishing old court infrastructure and official residences of judges and magistrates, as well as construct new ones.
Mrs Justice Wood said the Judicial Council took a very serious view of poor performance or non-performance and other forms of unethical misconduct.
She said painfully, the council had had to sanction some members for those violations.