The Chief Justice, Gertrude Torkornoo, says the deployment of technology by the Judiciary remains one of the surest ways of building a justice system that truly serves the citizenry.
She mentioned that, as the Judiciary architecture adopted technology and leadership, all court hearings would be done virtually, while the country uses a centralised transcription systems, which really takes away the possibility of corruption in the courts.
Justice Torkornoo made these remarks when she delivered the keynote address at the Annual Chief Justice’s Forum in Takoradi in the Western Region.
The forum was on the theme: “Building the pillars of Justice through leadership, innovations and technology.”
Justice Torkornoo said the forum would provide the opportunity for stakeholders to work together with the Judicial Service and judiciary to examine how to better serve the citizenry and help build the pillars of justice with collective efforts, leadership and a commitment to innovation and technology.
She also urged participants to join the Judiciary on the transformative journey of ensuring that “justice is accessible, efficient and effective for all Ghanaians.”
The Chief Justice said the judiciary was working hard to properly store the records of the courts, the registry of the rights of citizens – so that, parties would be able to access their records.
“There is also an urgent need to work on archiving of all old records, preserving them in digitilised forms and storing them for easy searches and assets. There is also the need to digitise cases that are currently being handled so that they can be made accessible within the virtual hearing processes. Mainstreaming technology for all courts has been slow and laborious work, mainly because of the vast infrastructure needed to make an integrated virtual system work,” Justice Torkornoo added.
The Judiciary, she assured, would continue making the pillars of justice robust, stronger and also strengthen the edifice of justice delivery to become more comfortable to users.
The Deputy- Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Diana Asonaba Dapaah, also urged all policy makers, judiciary members, legal professionals and community leaders to recognise their importance in creating a just and equitable society.
The theme for the forum, she argued, must compel everybody “to forge a path where justice is accessible, fair and adaptive to the changing needs of our society.”
Mrs Dapaah said “It is therefore my hope that this forum will serve as a catalyst for meaningful policy innovations, discussions and partnerships, together we can build a justice system that not only upholds the rule of law, but, also embodies the very aspirations of every Ghanaian for a just, accountable society.”
FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, TAKORADI
