Use Alternative Dispute Resolution system - CJ Anin Yeboah
The Chief Justice, His Lordship Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah at the 40th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana told that judges should use an Alternative Dispute Resolution system for conflict resolutions.
Joana Somiah 
The Chief Justice, His Lordship Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah has revealed that less than 404 judges and magistrates are administering justice for over a 30.8million Ghanaian citizens.
The CJ Anin Yeboah said this at the 40th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana (AMJG) in Accra under the theme: “The Quandary of the Judge in the Digital World".
He opined, "judges have to advise litigants in some cases to seek redress by using the Alternative Dispute Resolution system to lessen the burden on the courts and called on judges and magistrates to avoid adjournments that were not sought on legal grounds and accumulation of several part-heard cases".
"Ghana’s legal system was built on a foundation of received Anglo-Saxon common law, statutory law, and other documents, such as those heralding the legal existence of various military regimes".
In addition to this, received and imposed law, there is an enduring body of largely unwritten customary usages and practices that still are a contextual feature of the modem legal system of Ghana.
He lamented, "the equality of all persons before the law and their freedom to enforce their rights and liberties in a Court of Law is guaranteed under the Constitution".
"The independence of the Judiciary from the Executive and the Legislature is entrenched in the Constitution".
The Judiciary is the branch of governance, given authority to interpret, apply and enforce the laws of a country.
He emphasized that "the Judiciary shall be made up of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court, as well as Regional Tribunals and such Lower Courts and Tribunals as Parliament may establish and shall have the Chief Justice as the Head, who shall be responsible for its administration and supervision.
The amendment of the Courts Act (Act 620) 2002 abolishes community and Circuit Tribunals and reestablishes the Circuit and Magistrate Courts".
William Ofori Akwaboa, Eastern Regional Correspondent
