The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. John Alexander Ackon, said the court should give justice to all those appearing before it to sustain public confidence in the judicial system.
“I wish to urge the officials to work hard to promote efficient adjudication of cases to minimize the challenges people go through in their quest for justice.”
He indicated that access to justice was vital for the growth of the nation’s democracy – it was the way forward to guarantee individual freedom.
That was why the step taken by the municipal assembly to construct the modern structure to house the high court was commendable, he added.
The Minister said the situation where significant proportion of the population lived outside the protection of the law for reasons of poverty and distance would have to change.
Justice Dennis Dominic Adjei, an Appeal Court Judge, who stood in for the Chief Justice asked that criminal cases should be brought before the courts for determination.
He said rape, defilement and other criminal offences must not be settled outside the courts.
Justice Adjei pointed out that the Judicial Council was eager to see more law courts opened across the nation to save the people the trouble of traveling long distances to seek justice.
Mr. Richard Ofori Agyeman Boadi, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), said litigants in Obuasi, Assin Fosu, Bekwai, Dunkwa, Manso-Nkwanta and Jacobu would no longer have to travel to Kumasi to access justice.
Nana Kwabena Oyiakwan II, the chief of Kwapia, urged court workers to refuse to be corrupted.
Source: GNA/News Ghana
