Justice sector institutions hail case tracking system
webmasterJustice Sector institutions have applauded the Case Tracking System (CTS) which is going to help ensure transparency in prosecuting criminal cases.
A Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, Justice Yonni Kulendi said the CTS would facilitate collaboration and coordination between the justice service institutions, enhance transparency and reduce the impact of corruption in the process of delivering justice.
Mr. Kulendi was speaking at a sensitization workshop on the USAID Justice Sector Support Activity organized for stakeholders in Kumasi. Participants were drawn from Civil Society Organizations, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) and Justice Sector Institutions (JSIs) in the Ashanti regional capital.
He stated that the CTS will fast-track criminal cases while ensuring transparent and honest adjudication of disputes, which is the very foundation of democratic practice. ”The consent of the governed cannot be procured and maintained if they cannot trust the institutions that are meant to protect them and secure their rights,” he said.
The Executive Director
of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Madam Mina Mensah augmented
Mr. Kulendi’s statements saying that the CTS is meant to promote efficiency in
handling criminal cases to ensure justice is served expeditiously to citizens.
She said the processes
that citizens have to go through sometimes from their arrest till their fate is
determined by the courts could be traumatic, hence the need for the CTS to
improve justice delivery as a result of transparency in the process.
“We need to tackle the
problem in a manner that is comprehensive. The problem is systemic and not the
fault of an individual or any organization but the structures that we have in
place,” she observed.
She courted the support of stakeholders to contribute to the success of the CTS as reforms carried out in the justice sector over the years have not yielded the desired results.
“If all of us decide
that we are part of the solution so we all engage the system and there are
problems, we all talk about it and make suggestions. We can only do this if we
understand the system, are aware of it and participate,” she implored the
participants.
Representatives of key justice sector institutions including the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Prison Service, Economic and Organized Crime Office, Legal Aid Commission and Attorney General’s Department at the event called for strengthening of the CTS to rid it of challenges impeding its effectiveness.
USAID Justice Sector Support Activity
The USAID Justice Sector Support Activity is an intervention that seeks to reinforce efforts by the US Government to enhance Ghana’s justice delivery system by increasing Citizen Oversight and Monitoring of Criminal Cases, increasing citizen knowledge and access to Justice Sector services, and strengthening advocacy for accountability of key justice sector institutions for improved justice delivery in Ghana.
