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 The Chief Justice, Ms Justice Sophia Akuffo (5th-left), and her entourage stunned by the appalling conditions at the Kasoa  Court. With them is  Ms  Felicia Gandezi (left), the Presiding Magistrate of the Kasoa District Court
The Chief Justice, Ms Justice Sophia Akuffo (5th-left), and her entourage stunned by the appalling conditions at the Kasoa Court. With them is Ms Felicia Gandezi (left), the Presiding Magistrate of the Kasoa District Court

Chief Justice bemoans state of courts as Kasoa Court uses chamber pot

The Chief Justice, Ms Justice Sophia Akuffo, has threatened to close down the Kasoa District Court and all other courts which are not purposely designed for the Judiciary by the end of this year.

She issued the threat when she visited the Kasoa District Court on Monday as part of her four-day visit to the Central Region.

She also visited the Awutu Senya, Senya Beraku and Agona Swedru courts.

Chamber pot

During the visit to Kasoa, the Magistrate of the Kasoa District Court, Ms Felicia Gandezi, stunned the Chief Justice and her entourage when she brought out a chamber pot she had been using as a place of convenience to demonstrate the challenges confronting the court.

Apparently concerned about the matter, Ms Justice Akuffo said: "This is totally unacceptable."

She expressed surprise at the general deplorable state of the Kasoa District Court and other courts in parts of the country where she had visited, describing it as "a terrible place”.

She threatened to close down all courts which were not "purposely designed for staff of the Judiciary by the end of this year”, adding: "There will be so many closures of courts by the end of this year."

Under the Local Government Act 462, assemblies are required to provide court structures.

Grave concern

The Chief Justice said there were uncompleted courts scattered across the country, adding that "many assemblies have invited me to inaugurate those courts but I told them I would not, until they fixed the problems".

Ms Justice Akuffo further expressed grave concern about the situation where many courts had been sharing their facilities with other organisations, saying that "it is unacceptable; we don't share our facilities with other institutions”.

She tasked the assemblies to up their game and liaise with the Judiciary in their effort to construct courts, saying: "Our courts must have model designs if we want to be seen to be dispensing justice."

 The workers of the Judicial Service appealed to the Chief Justice to equip the courts with modern technological gadgets.

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