Ghana’s economic ambitions and democratic promises depend on a public institution that receives too little attention outside major political disputes: the courts. Businesses need enforceable contracts, citizens need protection against arbitrary power, and communities need peaceful ways to resolve disagreement. A judiciary that is inaccessible, slow or vulnerable to influence weakens all three.
Judicial effectiveness should therefore be treated as a development priority. Independence allows courts to decide fairly; adequate resources and sound administration make those decisions useful. The measure is whether people can obtain affordable, timely and impartial justice, with outcomes that can be enforced.
Justice is development infrastructure
For government to function effectively, each arm must fulfil its role. Parliament makes laws and scrutinises government; the executive implements laws and policies; the judiciary interprets and applies the law, protects rights and checks public power.
Articles 125 and 127 of the 1992 Constitution establish judicial independence. Article 127(2) also requires state institutions to provide reasonable assistance to protect the courts’ independence, dignity and effectiveness. Material support is therefore part of making the constitutional promise work.
Economic activity depends on confidence that agreements will be honoured and disputes resolved predictably. A supplier unable to recover payment may struggle to pay workers or finance the next order. A prolonged land dispute can prevent productive use of an asset. Uncertain enforcement makes transactions riskier and can discourage investment.
These costs fall unevenly. A large company may sustain years of litigation; a small enterprise or household may abandon a valid claim. Effective justice therefore supports both investment and economic inclusion. Its value cannot be measured only by the fees courts collect or the number of judgments delivered.
Democracy between elections
Democracy requires lawful government between elections as well as a credible ballot. Courts help ensure that executive decisions and legislation remain within constitutional limits. They give citizens a peaceful means to challenge unlawful treatment and require public authorities to justify their actions.
When legal remedies are inaccessible or unreliable, personal connections may appear more useful than citizenship. That encourages dependence on patrons and weakens equal treatment. Judicial effectiveness is therefore part of democratic accountability: public power must remain answerable to law, regardless of who wins office.
Campaign financing can intensify the pressure. CDD-Ghana’s 2021 exploratory study estimated GH¢4 million to run for Parliament and US$100 million for a viable major-party presidential bid. These were estimates from a study covering four regions, not audited spending totals. They nevertheless illuminate the associated vicious circle: expensive campaigns can create dependence on financiers; victory brings pressure for appointments or contracts; beneficiaries may fund future campaigns. Courts must be able to scrutinise such interests without retaliation. Transparent party finances, effective enforcement and merit-based appointments can help break this neopatrimonial cycle.
Protect independence and demonstrate accountability
Professional security matters as much as operational capacity. Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo’s removal in September 2025, following an Article 146 committee’s recommendation, brings security of tenure into focus. The Presidency stated that the committee found stated misbehaviour. The removal itself does not prove political retaliation. The institutional lesson is that disciplinary procedures must combine accountability with fair hearings, impartial adjudication and credible protection against improper pressure.
Appointments and advancement should reward competence and integrity. Conflicts of interest require disclosure and appropriate recusal. Family and community solidarity remain valuable, but cannot determine public decisions that must be impartial. Neither political patrons nor private financiers should gain privileged access to justice.
Support and social expectations
Judges need dependable remuneration, housing, healthcare, security and retirement provision. Without these, personal hardship can increase vulnerability to interested benefactors. Adequate support reduces that vulnerability, but cannot substitute for integrity, enforceable ethical rules and accountability.
Family and community solidarity are strengths worth preserving. The difficulty arises when expectations of assistance extend into public office and influence decisions that must be impartial. Costly ceremonies and celebrations can add financial pressure, particularly where social standing appears tied to expenditure. These pressures should be addressed without caricaturing Ghanaians or dismissing occasions with genuine communal value.
Traditional, religious and community leaders can promote affordable celebrations and discourage borrowing for social competition. Judicial officers should disclose relevant gifts and interests and recuse themselves where appropriate. Clear boundaries protect both the officer and the citizen: access to a fair hearing must never depend on family ties, political loyalty or personal generosity.
Start with the lower courts
Parliament’s Judiciary Committee reported 133,422 pending cases at the end of the 2025 legal year. Circuit Courts accounted for 27,925 and District Courts for 71,858: together, nearly three-quarters of the total. Improving these courts should be central to any national justice strategy.
Pending cases are not automatically overdue cases. Some may have been filed recently; others may require complex evidence or legitimate procedural steps. The figures establish the scale of unfinished work, but cannot tell us how long people wait. We need the age of cases and the reasons they remain unresolved.
Staffing is an immediate concern. In October 2026, JUSAG reported more than 130 courts without magistrates and called for improved lower-bench remuneration and security. This is an association’s reported figure, but it warrants a published vacancy assessment and funded recruitment plan. Better pay, housing, protection and working conditions can support retention and independent judgment. Buildings alone cannot hear cases.
Funding must reach the courtroom
The approved 2025 Judiciary and Judicial Service budget was approximately GH¢1.019 billion. An allocation, however, does not show when money became available or what services it purchased. Budget oversight must distinguish approved funding, releases, commitments and actual payments.
Government faces competing demands and fiscal constraints. Those constraints strengthen the case for clear priorities, realistic commitments and predictable releases. Salaries must be accompanied by functioning registries, interpreters, secure records, equipment and maintained premises. Paying people while denying them essential tools weakens the return on public expenditure.
The long-delayed Wa Court Complex illustrates the need to fund completion and plan comprehensively. In May 2026, its consultant told a parliamentary inspection that a contract sum of about GH¢11 million had been increased by roughly GH¢7 million for external works initially omitted. These figures concern the reported contract and additional works; they do not establish cumulative historical expenditure. Late payments and approval delays were among the explanations offered.
Government and the Judicial Service should publish the completion programme, funding requirements, outstanding certificates and responsibility for each delay. New construction should follow credible provision for completing and maintaining existing facilities.
Recover costs without pricing people out
The longstanding commercial-court fee schedule published by the Judicial Service warrants periodic review. It lists a GH¢3,000 writ fee for a GH¢1 million claim. The GBA’s 2022 indicative scale for debt-recovery work provides a useful comparison: professional fees of 10–25 per cent would represent GH¢100,000–250,000 on that amount.
The services differ. A writ fee excludes other court charges, while an indicative professional scale does not establish what every lawyer actually collects. The comparison nevertheless raises a legitimate question about how the cost of commercial dispute resolution is shared.
Any review should use service-cost evidence, provide proportionate fees and protect those unable to pay. Legal aid and effective fee exemptions deserve attention alongside revenue. A modest contribution from lawyers’ collected fees could also be studied, subject to consultation, legal authority and audited administration. Cost recovery should supplement dependable public funding; court income must never influence judicial outcomes.
Manage cases as a public service
Additional resources must be matched by better management. Courts should identify issues early, set realistic timetables and record reasons for adjournments. Necessary postponements protect fairness. Repeated avoidable delay should trigger scrutiny and proportionate consequences, whether responsibility lies with lawyers, court administration, investigators or another agency.
Parliament’s December 2025 committee report recorded digitisation in 52 of 128 High Courts. That dated baseline should be updated publicly. Electronic filing, reliable scheduling, transcription and accessible case information can reduce administrative delay, provided staff are trained, systems are maintained and users without digital access receive assistance.
Mediation can help where appropriate, but parties must understand their options and participate freely. Speed should improve access to fair resolution, not pressure people to surrender legitimate rights. Successful reform must also address enforcement: a judgment that cannot be implemented may offer little practical relief.
Public information is democratic infrastructure
Citizens also need current information. When checked for this article on 18 October 2026, the Judicial Service’s annual-report page listed 2022–2023 as its latest report. That observation does not establish that no later report exists elsewhere; it does show the need for an accessible, current reporting point.
Annual reports should disclose case ages, disposal rates, vacancies, adjournment patterns, enforcement performance, funding and responses to audit findings. Figures need clear periods and definitions. These disclosures would help distinguish resource shortages from management failures and allow Parliament, professional bodies, civil society and the media to assess progress fairly.
Judges must eat—but public resources are finite. The Republic must provide dependable support through fair priorities, timely funding and responsible cost recovery. The judiciary must use resources well and demonstrate integrity. The return is a democracy in which power answers to law and an economy in which opportunity depends less on influence. Citizens must receive justice that is timely, affordable, impartial and effective.
The writer, Valentin Kwasi Mensah, PhD is a Chartered Certified Accountant whose research interests include governance, public policy, development and culture.
